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Seven-Spirits – Attractive products with tradition and a future

Under the umbrella of Seven-Spirits there is already a collection of the finest spirits, and the portfolio is constantly being expanded to offer customers a broad choice of well-known brand-named products from all over the world. The main focus is on the search for attractive products for the future as well as reliable partners, as company director Dirk Verpoorten points out. With HirschRudel, a herb liqueur has come onto the market which has its roots with his grandmother, Elly.

In a large suitcase from her estate he found a poetry album in which she had carefully written down the recipe. Fascinated by his discovery, he tried it out and was thrilled with its taste, which is based on a unique mix of 31 different herbs. These are only macerated cold for four weeks, to retain all aromas. Maturation takes over six months – unusually long for a herb liqueur. The bottles are filled and labelled by hand and are sold in limited very small amounts.

At the World Spirits Award, the herb spirit received a gold medal.

The Ziegler fine fruit distillery is one of the sales partners of Seven-Spirits, and with their excellent products they also held a strong hand at the World Spirits Award: double gold was awarded to Aureum 1865 Cask Strength, there was gold for G=in³ Classic, and silver for Aureum 1865.

Hödl Hof – Quality over generations since 1542

“We have been farming our 20 hectares of fruit ecologically for decades, out of conviction, because we live and work there. We grow pears, apricots, grapes, damsons, old varieties of apples, rowanberries, elderberry, walnuts, hazelnuts and sweet chestnuts. 24 hectares of forest provide the wood to heat our farm and for barrels to store the distillates, but we also collect tree shoots, wild fruits, roots and mushrooms. Soft, low-mineral water for our production comes from our own spring, which for generations has also been our drinking water.

The fully ripe fruits travel the shortest way through the fermenting cellar directly to the copper distilling kettles. As is the old-Styrian tradition, double distillation takes place, only the high proof heart is extracted and stored in wood, glass or stainless steel containers. We distil between 500 and 700 tonnes of mash annually.

If you want to find out more about schnapps, you can join a guided tour, walk along our educational schnapps path or try the entire product range in 20 ml mini bottles to take home. Our own brands are a special service, which we develop for those interested – from our schnapps and fine brandies to vodka, whisky, rum or gin and liqueurs and other spirits. More information can be found at www.edelbrand.at.”

The considerable achievements at the World Spirits Award: First Class Distillery 2018, Master Class Distillery 2018, World Class Distillery 2018, double gold for Old Classic, plus 11 times gold and 12 times silver.

Hauser Tradition – Essences from the mountains of the Tyrol

For more than 300 years, ripe fruits, berries and roots have been distilled in the Alps into clear distillates “to capture the breath of the Tyrolean mountains and the essence of natural orchards to produce the finest schnapps”. The roots of this tradition lie in small distilleries, such as the one owned by the Josef Hauser family in the Tyrolean valley of Leukental.

Based on this tradition, a comprehensive range of spirits is produced under the “Hauser Tradition” brand name in Lustenau, Vorarlberg, which stand out with their mild and agreeable nature. Spicy and aromatic, like the fragrance of a meadow, and as light as mountain air – this is what characterises Hauser schnapps.

Fruit spirits are gaining more and more importance in the hospitality trade, with the focus on regional and seasonal products and following the culinary trend of traditional values. In addition to connoisseurs who are very demanding, numerous enthusiasts and prospective customers also appreciate the quality of a good schnapps. At the same time, the prejudice that great quality can only come from small companies needs to be eradicated. The distilling of fruit into a perfect product is a professional trade which has nothing to do with romanticism, but is based on the combination of the latest technology with the experience and intuition of the craftsmen.

Hauser came out on top at the World Spirits Award with classification as a World Class Distillery 2012 and Distillery of the Year Silver in OBS. There was a gold for the rowanberry, Williams pear, apricot, hazelnut, gentian and cherry and silver for the Obstler fruit brandy and raspberry.