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Edward Snell – Whisky from South Africa

Edward Snell founded a trading company in Durban in 1848, from which the oldest spirit company in South Africa developed over 160 years. Following an eventful history, the company is now once again in the hands of the family. Besides their own brands they also sell numerous local and international drink brands, mostly in various markets in Africa and the Middle East.

The wide range of products includes whisky, brandy, vodka, rum, gin, tequila and cognac. One outstanding label is Firstwatch Whisky with its new look, a striking, square bottle design. Consumer demand for a whisky with an American taste profile has been perfected over time and is presented today as a balanced blend of the finest imported rye and grain. Whether pure, on the rocks or mixed – its diversity makes it popular with many different target groups and successful in one of the largest spirit segments in South Africa.

At the World Spirits Award, there was gold for Firstwatch Whisky.

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’.

Edelbrandmanufaktur Wilhelm Marx – Luxurious products from Gut Bärenhof

Deep in the Bavarian Forest lies the idyllic farm belonging to the Marx family. Only founded in 2012, the fine brandy manufacturer was able to establish itself in the expert world within a very short space of time. Wilhelm Marx, qualified fine brandy sommelier, has concentrated on innovative products, without neglecting regional classics – which have, of course, been newly interpreted. This means that rather unusual ingredients, such as ginger and lemongrass, stand alongside local strawberries, dried pears and dandelion petals. The secret of their success is easily explained: passionate handicraft, meticulous procedure and the will to experiment.

As a passionate connoisseur, Wilhelm Marx, together with his wife Birgit, has achieved his dream: delicious distillates with natural ingredients, without flavourings, colourings or preservatives. Since August 2017, the products have been certified as ecological products and thus ‘ORGANIC’ according to the Council Regulation on organic production.

The Gut Bärenhof farm itself is a natural oasis, which could hardly be more beautiful. It provides ripe fruits such as quince, rosehip, sloe and elderberry, which are carefully processed by hand in small batches. Even the fresh ginger from Asia is peeled by hand and carefully processed.

At the World Spirits Award, there was double gold for Sicilian Organic Blood Orange, gold for Coffee Spirit and GIN BayernDry, silver for Organic Wild Raspberry, Hierbas del Bávaro Bosque, Blackcurrant, Elderberry, Organic Wild Blueberry, GIN infused by Elderflower, Espresso Liqueur and GINGERLIQ, and bronze for Artichoke Bitter and Genziana d‘Oro.