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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.

Stock Polska – Prestige products with history

Polmos Lublin (known today as Stock Polska) was founded by the industrialist Emil Plage in Lublin in 1906 and was able to survive both world wars and the communist state leadership. The company was nationalised in 1948 and re-privatised in 2001. It traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange until 2005 and was sold in 2006. The new owners, Oaktree Capital Management, purchased the spirits division from Eckes Stock in 2007 and thereby laid the foundations for the current Stock Spirits Group. The company has its headquarters in Luxembourg, its service centre in Great Britain and its production sites in the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland.

Stock dates back to the year 1884 when Lionello Stock founded a beverages business in Trieste. He purchased a distillery in 1920 in what is currently part of the Czech Republic with the aim of tapping into new markets. This was followed by distilleries, bottling plants and warehouses in Italy, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia. In the 1920s, Stock was one of the biggest companies of its kind in Europe.

After an absence of 70 years, Stock returned to Poland and began to manufacture at the historic site of Lublin, 150 kilometres south-east of Warsaw. Intensive investment led to the creation of the most modern distillery in Poland and a leadership position on the vodka market. Poland’s most popular flavoured vodka is produced here: Zoladkowa Gorzka.

Lots of Stock products are produced by traditional recipes. These classical brands appeal to connoisseurs all over the world. In return, work is constantly being done on innovations that correspond to modern tastes and new drinking cultures. Quality standards are constantly upheld in both areas, of course.

The quality of the products was recognised at the World Spirits Award with a gold medal for the Orkisz Spelt Vodka.

Casamigos Tequila – Perfect planning and implementation

Casamigos Tequila is a small range of premium tequila, produced 100% from agaves, which grow in the red clay soil in the cool climate of the highlands of Jalisco in Mexico. This ‘Blue Agave’ – botanical name ‘Agave tequilana F.A.C. Weber’ – belongs to the asparagus family or subfamily of the agave plants. After a maturation period of around eight to ten years, the ‘heart’ of the plant weighs between 50 and 70 kilograms and is known as ‘piña’. Once the roots and leaves have been removed it looks like a huge pineapple.

These raw materials are cooked for 72 hours in the traditional stone ovens, which is much longer than with conventional tequila. The juice that is won during saccharification is very slowly fermented with its own yeasts for about 80 hours, which is twice as long as the industrial standard. It is distilled in traditional copper pot stills, then the Blanco is stored for two months, the Reposado for seven months and the Añejo for 14 months in the best American oak barrels.

The exceptional product was first presented to the public in Miami Beach, Florida, in January 2013 by its ‘discoverers’, George Clooney and Rande Gerber, whose signatures are on the label. Their statement: “Our idea was to make the best-tasting, smoothest tequila around. So we did.”

The jury at the World Spirits Award agreed with this statement and presented double gold three times: for Casamigos Blanco Tequila, Casamigos Reposado Tequila and Casamigos Añejo Tequila.

Château du Tariquet - One castle, one family, on history

This family history begins in 1912 with the bear tamer Jean-Pierre Artaude who returned to his homeland in the south-west of France after many years in the USA. He purchased Château Tariquet and took his wife back to France with him at the start of the 1920s. His daughter Hélène and her husband Pierre Grassa (the son of Spanish immigrants who moved to the village of Éauze after being a prisoner of war) rebuilt their parents' property with a great deal of care and diligence and began to produce Bas-Armagnac here. Of their four children, Maïté and Yves continued the family tradition and remained on the estate. In 1972, they established a company here with their father and went on to develop their products and sales even further.

Today, this family company remains independent but has increased its estate to almost 1,000 hectares. The responsibility for the company lies with Maïté and Yves and their sons Armin and Rémy. It was Yves Grassa who decided, along with his sister, to produce white wines here in 1982, going against all tradition to produce a cuvée from Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc which is still appreciated today by wine lovers across the world.

In addition to its fresh and fruity Vins de Pays des Côtes de Gascogne, the company concentrates its production on Armagnacs with 45% alcohol from the rare Folle Blanche grape variety that is typical of the region. The Baco and Ugni Blanc varieties form the basis for the assemblages with 40% alcohol. Recently, high-quality bottles have come onto the market, such as the XO cask no. 6 (54.9 % vol) which is characterised by its roasted aromas, vanilla notes and well integrated alcohol.

The Armagnac XO und Armagnac VSOP won gold at the World-Spirits Award.