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Der Zweiger: Synergy of a strong family

The Zweigers run an honest, artisanal business whose top priority is the high quality of their products: “Quality is our philosophy, and we feel committed to it. Innovation and constant quality controls ensure exclusive products of the highest quality.” This ambitious motto has followed the dynamic company into its current third generation. “More than 90 percent of a distillate’s quality is determined by the quality of the fruits. Even brilliant distillers won’t succeed with mediocre fruits. Good distilling is a craft, and a great deal of experience and feeling is required.”

The product range includes the finest brandies, harmonious cream liqueurs, gin, full-bodied whiskies, as well as frizzante sparkling wines and craft beers. In addition, there is a vineyard area covering 15 hectares where Pinot Blanc, Schilcher and Sauvignon Blanc are cultivated. The highly aromatic brandies are created by means of an elaborate distillation method. The most important aspect is the quality of the raw materials, which are carefully selected and processed. The products can be sampled in Gießenberg near Mooskirchen or at special events (www.zweiger.at), and tours of the company which include regional delicacies can be organised upon advance reservation. The Schnapsothek with its wood and glass interior invites guests to taste the products in a welcoming atmosphere.

The World Class Distillery 2023 (Distillery of the Year 2023 – Silver, Bitters & Liqueurs) received double gold for Steirischer Eierlikör aus Bio-Eiern (egg liqueur) and Schoko-Kokos Cremelikör (chocolate-coconut cream liqueur) (World Spirits Award 2023 & Spirit of the Year 2023), gold for Steirischer Single Malt Whiskey, DER Almkräuter (herbs), Kürbiskern Cremelikör (pumpkin seed cream liqueur), Smoked OAK Single Malt Whiskey and Steirischer Marillen Cremelikör (apricot cream liqueur), and silver for Tonkabohne Cremelikör (tonka bean cream liqueur) and Bitter.

Guggenbichler – Spirits specialist from the Chiemgau region

As a small boy, he helped collect the mashed fruit from the barrels and was later introduced to the secrets of distilling by his father, says the fruit-grower and master distiller Johann Guggenbichler. Fine quality brandies have been distilled at the family estate since 1829 and the business is now in its 5th generation. The brandy sommelier shares the particular features of these traditional local fruit varieties with visitors during seminars and tasting sessions.

The business is located in the picturesque Chiemgau mountains and the gently rolling hills of the Alpine uplands, at the heart of the fruit orchards where fruits ripen for use in the authentic Guggenbichler products. The varieties grown here range from apple brandy aged in oak barrels, apricot (brandy and liqueur), top-quality pear, blackberry and espresso liqueur, Gravenstein apple, hazelnut spirit, raspberry spirit and liqueur, elderberry brandy, coffee liqueur, cherry brandy and liqueur, herb spirit and liqueur, distillates made from Mirabelle plums, fruits, peaches and plums (brandy and liqueur), quince (brandy and liqueur), Ramazottl, sloe, pomace and rowanberry brandies, walnut liqueur, Williams pear (brandy and liqueur) and plum brandy.


Many spirits enthusiasts and long-standing regular customers come here regularly to stock up on their favourite fruit flavour. The brandies and liqueurs come packaged in wooden boxes and therefore make popular gifts. These top-quality spirits are highly valued in the world of gastronomy; Germany’s top chef, Heinz Winkler, ‘resides’ in nearby Aschau and recommends trying a ‘Guggenbichler’.

The World Spirits Award resulted in classification as a First Class Distillery 2014 with gold for sloe and black elderberry, and silver for apricot and yellow Williams pear.

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’.