World-Spirits Online Guide Abo – order now

Clint Wilfred & Sons – Good taste for rapidly expanding markets

Clint Wilfred & Sons Ltd brings a carefully selected portfolio of drinks to the Gulf region and Southeast Asia. The young company targets fast-moving products in the HORECA – Hotel/Restaurant/Café and Hotel/Restaurant/Catering market segment. It is run by Clint Wilfred, whose family has been in the spirit production and distribution business for over four decades.

One main focus of business activities lies in the United Arab Emirates. To offer new products on this rapidly growing market is a great challenge, as the demand for premium and niche products is constantly increasing and customers’ wishes are very diverse. The range, therefore, also includes non-alcoholic and carbonated soft drinks, still and sparkling water, ready-to-drink teas, energy sport drinks and other New Age drinks. There is also a strong focus on a wide selection of packaging sizes and formats.

One special product in the spirits product category is Count Cristo Blended Scotch Whisky, a premium blend with a high malt content from the Scottish Speyside region and with some lowland malt for added depth and character.

At the World Spirits Award, there was gold for Count Cristo Blended Scotch Whisky.

Ehrenwert GmbH: One recipe – two families

One recipe – two families. Each family has its own carefully guarded secret recipe, and with the Lücke family this remained in the hands of grandfather Heinz and later his son Dieter for many decades. Long enough, thought sons Thomas and Christian. In any case, it is the ‘Felsenfeuer’ herb liqueur that once made the Lücke Distillery one of the most important in Münsterland. After the war they continued the success story which first began in the 18th century, with this herb liqueur, using the recipe that Heinz Lücke worked out. In the 1950s everyone was talking about it, but in the 1960s the era of the distillery and the herb liqueur ended. But not for good – 60 years later it celebrated its resurrection with the ‘Freudenfeuer’.

Whilst searching for a distillery, Thomas and Christian kept to family tradition, as their grandmother was a Sasse, and the Sasses’ fine distillery in Schöppingen is still well known today. Following a traditional recipe from 1947 the new liqueur is distilled in small batches and is bottled by hand after a ten-day rest period. Ready to enjoy: neat and ice cold like in the time of our grandfathers, or smoother, on ice with lightly pressed orange zest, or as a basis for a long drink with tonic water or ginger ale. To old times and new friends!

At the World Spirits Award, there was gold for Freudenfeuer.

Euelsberger Brennerei: Production in the Eifel region

Owner and master distiller Stephan Thomé and his wife Claudia run the 2017 start-up in Dingdorf in the Eifel region. There wasn’t a distillery on his parents’ farm – the new production facility was installed in the old calf shed. “My parents tell me my great-grandfather would have loved it. We love the materials of copper and stainless steel, and the way the light falls on them through the old stable windows.”

The name of the business comes from the Euelsberg, where they have a traditional orchard with tall trees growing apples, pears, damsons, Mirabelle plums, greengage plums and walnuts. They produce fruit brandies, spirits and various gins, all in the New Western Gin category. In the development phase, the distiller played around with over 120 herbs in his aroma lab, the result was twelve varieties, of which three were chosen for the first batch. Each gin has its own individual note, from spicy and fresh to floral and oriental.

The botanicals – be they from their own land or from around the world – are carefully selected and are of the same highest quality as those used in top restaurants and homeopathy. Many ingredients are from organic farms and are harvested by hand. In the small production facility, all stages are carried out by hand. The gin is carefully filtered to preserve the aroma and is bottled by hand to then mature first in steel barrels and then for months in the bottle itself.

At the World Spirits Award, there was gold for Laux Premium #1, Laux Premium #3, White Vermouth and Red Vermouth with Majorcan oranges, and silver for Laux Premium #2.

Young Henrys – New World vibe

Freshly drawn beer at the bar, good music and high spirits. Young Henrys brewery and distillery, founded in Newtown, Australia, in 2012, has a particular flair – seven days a week. It is like a festival that attracts musicians, artists, environmentalists, activists and free thinkers. It is the home of individualists, each with something interesting to say or do, and in the centre, like a huge, invisible magnet: beer. This is what happens when you have the right idea in the right place at the right time. The same goes for the Noble Cut Gin. It also ‘rocks’.

Just like beer, the base is 100% grain, without additives or enhancers. Triple distilled and then refined with classic botanicals: juniper, coriander, orange peel, cinnamon bark, liquorice root and angelica root. But wait a minute! Because brewers are involved here, there is an additional, special ingredient in the gin: hops, grown on site, which create a certain yeasty hint, almost like a fine white wine. However, this is not the only local ingredient: the unique pepperberry (mountain pepper), local bush tomatoes and Australian Sencha tea are also added. The result: very aromatic, complex New World stylistics.

At the World Spirits Award, the Noble Cut, which is full of character, was also enjoyed by the jury and received gold.