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2B Hemp Gin: Styrian gin experience

Two visionaries, Armin Breinl (doctor, drink creator, musician) and Wolfgang Thomann (gin maker), have created a completely new gin experience with real hemp powder: 2B HEMP GIN (inspired by AEIJST). On 17th November 2018, the two invited guests to the first tasting of 2B HEMP GIN in the AEIJST GIN distillery in St. Nikolai in the Sausal Valley.

Made from organic juniper berries, this innovative gin has an impressive, mild and fruity taste and a typical hemp note. Due to its unique aroma, it not only tastes good neat, but also creates a ‘wow’ effect in cocktails – as proven in the long drink Styrian Pale Gin AEIJST refined with 2B HEMP.

For thousands of years, hemp has been grown as a valuable plant, be it for rope, fabric, paper or as an active ingredient in ointments and tinctures. Hemp has always been highly valued for its medicinal properties, yet recently has been demonised as an addictive drug and has suffered under its ensuing prohibition, originating in the USA. These days hemp is regaining importance and is being used more as a luxury food as well as in medicine as a therapeutic agent.

The Lifestyle Trading company, run by Armin Breinl, is an innovative beverage producer, which is already known amongst trade professionals for its sugar-free ‘func- tional fruit drinks’. The drinks have a high fruit content (more than 50 per cent) and additional natural, vital substances and have an energising, relaxing and regenerative effect.

At the World Spirits Award, there was silver for 2B HEMP GIN.

Luding Group: Vodka Tchaikovsky as a high-spirited homage to the famous composer

At the beginning of the 1990s, the modern distillery ‘Fortuna’ was launched in a green field in the south of Russia – in the Krasnodar region, a strip of land with spa resorts and health centres. The distillery has specialised in unusual products, in a region with a particularly green fingerprint. The vodka created in honour of the great Russian composer Tchaikovsky is special. The concept for this exceptional product is comparable with one of his musical scores: the work ‘Swan Lake’ served as an inspiration. Art enthusiasts can thus immerse themselves in the history of Russian estate life in the 19th century. The traditional white and blue colours underline the purity of this vodka.

The technical particularities span a wide quality-orientated spectrum: from the selected wheat, their own well water and the special treatment of the distillate with skimmed milk powder to the crystal-clear filtration with active birch coal. With so much perfectionism and monitoring of the individual production steps, the result is an especially gentle, animating and very typical vodka based on wheat. After the diluting of alcohol and pure distillate, the production process is continued with maturation in steel tanks. The aim is to ‘wed’ both ‘waters’, resulting in an especially harmonious vodka.

At the World Spirits Award 2022, Vodka Tchaikovsky was awarded double gold and honoured as the best vodka with the title ‘Spirit of the Year’.

Heimat Distillers: Taste from the homeland

In an old natural stonework in Schwaigern near Heilbronn sits one of the largest spirits manufacturers in southern Germany. Marcel Eßlinger, Raphael Heiche and Rouven Richter work sustainably here and with attention to detail. They have been friends since childhood. Rouven’s father and Raphael’s father-in-law are the fifth generation to run the family-owned distillery. The trio started looking into distillation early on and gin is integral to their evenings together. As regards the recipe for their own gin, ‘authentic taste from the homeland’ was to be put into bottles. 18 hand-selected botanicals were processed, such as meadow sage and thyme, as well as apples from the regional meadow orchards. Distilling takes place in a traditional copper pot still in a small batch procedure, then the gin matures in a stoneware barrel.

Their latest product is Rum Ramero, which matures on site in one of the biggest rum barrel warehouses in Germany. The story of how it evolved is interesting. In 2014, the three founders headed to Guyana for a social project, where they met an enthusiastic sugarcane farmer – today the basis for their own rum brand. The sugarcane comes 100% from natural cultivation and is fair trade. With every bottle sold, they are supporting social projects in the cultivation regions. “Only through the maturation in our own barrel warehouse can we bring the quality to the required level,” Rouven explains. “For us, barrels are more than a receptacle, they are the decisive ingredient for individuality.”

At the World Spirits Award, gold was awarded to Ramero Rum Blanco, silver to Heimat Dry Gin, Ramero Rum Cask Selection and the ginger spirit Ingefaer, and bronze to Heimat Barrel Aged Dry Gin.

John Dewar & Sons: Dewar’s true scotch since 1846

John Dewar & Sons Ltd was founded by John Dewar in 1846 and has developed from being a small wine and spirit dealer in Perth, Scotland, to becoming a global brand name, known for its high-quality whiskies and a feeling for modern marketing and creative advertising.

John Dewar’s dynamic sons, John Alexander and Tommy Dewar, turned Dewar’s into an international success. In 1898, the brothers also founded the Aberfeldy Distillery, the physical and spiritual home of Dewar’s, which still produces the single malt whisky, the ‘heart’ of each blend, today. This full-bodied single malt stands out with its rich notes of heather and honey, which can be found throughout the current range.

This tireless pursuit of quality and the great passion for excellent, balanced blends still remain. These days, the company is a global leader and Dewar’s is one of the fastest growing premium whiskies in the world – and, thanks to the great skill of the master blenders, also one of the scotches with the most awards in the world. The proven basis of the comprehensive portfolio is White Label®, produced for the first time in 1899.

The World Class Distillery 2020 received gold for Dewar’s White Label, Dewar’s Blended Scotch Whisky 25 Years The Signature, Dewar’s Blended Scotch Whisky 15 Years, Dewar’s Blended Scotch Whisky 18 Years and Dewar’s Blended Scotch Whisky 12 Years.