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Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits – Sporty on many waters

What began in 1996 as a small group of hobby brewers, who simply wanted to make good beer, developed over the years into a successful team under the name of Ballast Point. In 2008, distillation was added, and these days the company with its headquarters in San Diego is an internationally recognised market leader on the brewery and distillation scene, with a product range including more than 40 types of beer and seven spirits. In November 2013, Ballast Point was given the title of ‘California Distillery of the Year’ at the New York International Spirits Competition (NYISC), and Head Distiller Yuseff Cherney is rightly proud of the award, with so much competition around.

Co-founder Jack White adds: “For us, distillation is a natural expansion of brewing. We started with it for the same reason: we wanted to produce what we like drinking. With our spirits, we try to bring our own style into the century-old handicraft of distillation. And it is great that the public like it.” The bottles are also original, with motifs from the world of seafaring and fishing. These refer to the company founders’ second favourite pastime, congenially interpreted by artist Paul Elder, who transforms each idea into wonderful labels. The logo, a sextant, has a reason behind it: the historical navigation instrument was used to compare the angle of the stars to the horizon, to find out the nautical position of the boat. For the company, the sextant is a constant reminder to proceed with the journey, with new ideas and new flavours.

When they are not brewing or distilling, the Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits bosses are sure to be fishing. At other times, two professional sport angling teams train all year and take part in competitions. Talking of competitions: at the World Spirits Award, Ballast Point Spirits landed a good catch: Three Sheets Rum, Devil’s Share Moonshine and Devil’s Share Single Malt Whiskey took gold. Fugu Vodka, Old Grove Gin, Three Sheets Barrel Aged Rum and Devil’s Share Bourbon hooked silver.

Georg Hemmeter – XUXU, Escorial, SILLA EL FUERTE

Georg Hemmeter – strawberry drinks with exceptional flavour guaranteed

The name Georg Hemmeter – a company of the Underberg Group – stands for innovative spirits, in particular the XUXU range. The fresh and fruity strawberry drink contains 66 percent fruit plus crystal-clear vodka, rounded off with a dash of lime. The harmony between the sweetness of the fruit and just 15% alcohol by volume is created using a special production method. XUXU Ten, the little luxury in a 250 ml aluminium bottle with only 10% alcohol by volume, is dressed to party – it is still relatively new to the market, yet is already at home in all the world’s top party venues.
XUXU can be served in so many different ways: chilled, neat, on crushed ice, as a dessert topping, with sparkling wine or with other mixers – XUXU tastes heavenly and offers fresh and fruity pleasure. Welcome to Berrydise!

Initially the absolute top star in Greece, XUXU is now also number 1 in Russia, and extremely popular in Turkey and Italy too.


XUXU Strawberry & Vodka Drink and XUXU Ten won Gold at the World Spirits Award 2014.