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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’.

Klippenziege: New era in the world of gin

In December 2015, four friends captured the ‘spirit’ of an idea: they were thinking about gin. Nearly a year later a small batch was bottled by hand. The individuality of a gin lies in the combination of the botanicals, in this case it is the exotic selection: mate tea, goji berries, physalis and a hint of rose. The Klippenziege is a New Western Dry Gin, in which juniper plays the main role amongst the other botanicals.

It is produced in the Habbel Distillery, which guarantees excellent quality thanks to its experience – it was established in 1878 and is now in the family’s fourth generation. The former Korn distillery in Sprockhövel with adjoining farmland is now the largest fruit distillery in the Ruhr region, as a traditional manufacturer it stands out with its attention to detail. The entire manufacturing process at Klippenziege can also be observed on-site.

The bottle and the label are also special. Designer Levent Aydin drew it carefully by hand, and then digitalised it before perfecting it. First it is printed, then coated, then stamped and embossed. The elegant result stands for friendship, solidarity and love. Working together in a friendly and familiar atmosphere connects people with a passion for life who share one important belief: that the product should encourage people to slow down, allowing for mindful enjoyment.

At the World Spirits Award, there was silver for Mate Dry Gin.

Feinbrennerei Sasse: A pioneer of Korn distilling

Feinbrennerei Sasse perfectly combines the tradition of craftsmanship with the development of innovation. On the evening of St. Nicholas’ Day in 1987, Rüdiger Sasse held a bottle of Korn (grain distillate) in his hand, which his grandfather had distilled decades before. This moment was the inspiration for an idea that was to change the world of distilling, namely to redefine Korn as a high-quality spirit.

Sasse was the first distillery to recognise the potential of barrique ageing for Korn and perfected it. The resulting mild, golden Korn is a matured and complex grain distillate that no longer has anything in common with the simple ‘clear spirit’ produced long ago. Today, young and committed distillers continue the tradition, believe in regional raw materials, water from their own spring and organic ingredients. In Schöppingen, high-quality distillates are created with lots of passion and patience, handcrafted from the first ingredient through to the final bottling. This way, Feinbrennerei Sasse not only retains its history of almost 300 years but makes it shine again and again with new ideas.

The World Class Distillery 2025 was awarded Gold to Nju Korn Mild, Lagerkorn V.S.O.P., Nju Korn fruchtig, Nju Korn wuchtig, Lagerkorn Atlantic Finish, Cigar Special, Lagerkorn Rebellion, Heide Gin, Lagerkorn Good Luck Preussen and Limoncello.

Nordic Premium Beverages: High percentage from the far north

Ilomantsi is the easternmost community in Finland, situated in North Karelia on the border with Russia. The company was founded here in 1989 and initially produced berry wines and spirits for the local market. Today it focuses on distillates. The natural landscape plays its part in only the highest quality, purest raw materials being processed. All the spirits, wines, sparkling wines and liqueurs are made of carefully selected berries and plants from Finland. True to the origins in the land of 187,888 lakes, exclusively fresh spring water is used as the basis for the drinks. And the development of a new product always starts with a story.

In the case of Oath Gin, it started with the Finnish Formula 1 racing driver Valtteri Bottas asking whether a gin could be manufactured for him. He originally only wanted a single batch for himself and his friends, but he liked the end product so much that he wanted to share his enthusiasm and make it available on a wider scale. In the beginning, there was the idea of apple and oats (coming from fields belonging to Bottas’ family), actually an apple cake. With the innovative idea of vacuum distillation of the apple peel, the master distiller Asko Ryynänen succeeded in capturing the essence of this traditional bakery item in the form of a gin. Together with the subtlety of the oats, juniper berries, a few additional secret ingredients and their own naturally filtered spring water, a New Western Style Gin emerged.

At the World Spirits Award, bronze was awarded to OATH Gin.