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Distillery Krauss: Delicious spirits from the Koralpe

At the foot of Koralpe in St. Martin im Sulmtal lies Distillery Krauss. What started in 2007 in a small garage in Schwanberg developed into an international spirits producer from 2018 at the new location, now with five employees. It has made a name for itself globally especially for gin, marking Austria on the gin world map. In addition, other top products such as rum, whisky, apple brandy and aniseed spirit have been awarded worldwide, rounding the product range off perfectly.

Amongst everything that is undertaken in the successful enterprise, some ‘cornerstones’ have emerged over the years as the most important values: a wide product range, concentration on the essentials, enjoyable moments, expertise and quality. For the fine brandies, there is an emphasis on single barrel filling at barrel strength. Despite the size of the company, individual gin productions are nevertheless still made according to customer wishes. The pot still at the old location is available for this, which is otherwise used for testing purposes and new developments – such as the first Austrian BIO Hard Seltzer.

The World Class Distillery 2022 OBB (Distillery of the Year – Gold & World Spirits Award 2022), World Class Distillery 2022 GIWO (Distillery of the Year – Gold & World Spirits Award 2022) and First Class Distillery 2022 BILI collected, alongside double gold for Saffron infused Dry Gin (Spirit of the Year 2022) and Zwetschkenbrand (damson brandy) (World Spirits Award 2022 & Spirit of the Year 2022), a further nine gold medals and four times silver.

Château Steinle Manufaktur: Globally recognised gin from what’s probably the smallest distillery in the world

Frank Steinle is an economist and marketing specialist – and a great lover of handmade products, good food, good wines and the best gin. In 2013, the idea was born for his first products. His philosophy is clear: excellent products cannot be created on an industrial scale. They can only develop based on a foundation of high-quality ingredients, when you know where they come from, and how they are produced and processed. Craft distilleries are the future: Quality before quantity!

Everything is manual work here: grinding the botanicals, distilling over real fire, filling, labelling, and numbering the bottles. “We only use high-quality alcohol based on wine and we don’t use any additives. The gins contain 100% of the essential oils of the botanicals.”

HERRLICH GIN is a straight London Dry Gin with 28 botanicals, BAYERISCH GIN is a hearty Bavarian Dry Gin with a hop and malt flavour and 32 botanicals, refined with some stone pine wood, PINKCAT GIN is a tart, fresh and fruity Old Tom Gin with 29 botanicals and the original ULMER GIN (a registered trademark) is a fine London Dry Gin with 20 botanicals. This year, the company is participating with its second commissioned work: HONIG GIN is a London Dry Gin with 10 organic botanicals. The organic honey is handmade in Ulm by the company Bienesto. HERRLICH BLUE MAGIC Dry Gin is also presented with 29 organic botanicals. It is refined with spices and transforms from royal blue to violet with tonic water.

At the World Spirits Award, there was gold for BAYERISCH GIN and HONIG GIN, and silver for HERRLICH GIN BLUE MAGIC, ULMER GIN, HERRLICH GIN and PINKCAT GIN.

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.

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.