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Berentzen Group: 260 years of cultured distilled spirits

Berentzen Group is an innovative beverage company that boasts a wide portfolio and develops, produces and markets varied and fashionable drinks concepts. The portfolio includes spirits, alcohol-free beverages and fresh juices. With over 260 years of experience, they are one of the oldest national manufacturers of spirits and have a market presence in over 60 countries to date, with brands such as Berentzen and Puschkin as well as reasonably priced private label products.

In April 2023, Norden Sea Salt Gin was launched on the German market under the Doornkaat brand. It is a speciality on the gin shelf, as selected North Sea botanicals create an extraordinary and intense taste experience: juniper provides the spice, sea buckthorn and rosehip the fruity tartness. Norden Sea Salt Gin is rounded off with a pinch of sea salt. This spirit spreads the genuine nature and authenticity of the North Sea coast throughout Germany. It is versatile and can be enjoyed neat, on ice or mixed as a long drink or cocktail.

Tres Países Premium Rum combines distillates from Guatemala, Panama and the Dominican Republic. After being stored for up to eight years in American white oak bourbon casks, they come to Europe for refinement by the master blender. The characteristics of the countries provide the taste profile: vanilla and butterscotch, elegant fruit, banana and chocolate. It is also available in a port cask finish, which is refined in aged casks for another six months.

At the World Spirits Award 2026, there was Gold for Tres Países Premium Rum and Silver for Doornkaat Norden Sea Salt Gin.

Absintissimo – An unusual distiller career

René Wanner used to be a police detective in Geneva, these days he is one of the most well-known absinthe distillers in Val-de-Travers, the traditional region of production in the Swiss canton of Neuenburg. Just like all the people who live there, he can tell many stories about the colourful history of the “green fairy”. Once taken as a medicine, it was later marginalised and then, in 1908, prohibited. Only since 2005 has absinthe again been produced legally. René Wanner revives ancient recipes, distils slowly according to olden specifications and only in small amounts. The result is very aromatic, yet mild and agreeable. A lot of effort is necessary: for 3,000 bottles you need about a ton of wormwood (Artemisia absinthium), in addition to large amounts of green aniseed and star aniseed, mint and balm, coriander and fennel, hyssop and liquorice.

Aside from his talent as a distiller, René Wanner also has a talent for promoting and selling his products. He greets his visitors to the sounds of an alpenhorn, he also learnt yodelling after retirement, and he guides the degustations multilingually: in German, French, Italian and Swiss-German. This is accompanied by anecdotes from moonshiner times – and also, on request, by dishes refined with absinthe from his small kitchen. As a member of a gastronomic brotherhood, he naturally keeps the recipes very secret. The icing on the absinthe cake are the originally designed bottles.

At the World Spirits Award, the absinthe range impressed the judges: gaining gold for La 68…harde, Bleue à Fernand, Bloody Fairy, Cinquante & Une, La Cavassonne, La Fée de la Rade and La Fée Verte, as well as silver for Bleue Bacchus and De Bleu de Bleu.

Christoph Kössler – Perfection, profile and personality

He is always among the best when it comes to distillate ratings and has been confirming his consistency for many years at the World Spirits Award. He achieves perfection in the ‘interplay with temperatures’ – from the fermentation of the mash in the stainless steel tanks to distillation using the most advanced technical methods. And all this takes place in exceptional surroundings: Christoph Kössler works and lives with his family in the house where famous Baroque master builder Jakob Prandtauer was born. The old building has been carefully preserved and the interiors adjusted to the requirements of a modern company. The initials ‘JP’ on the bottles are a clear link to the tradition of the company.

The friendly distiller from Tyrol manufactures over 40 products covering all fruit varieties, as well as 10 liqueurs. When asked for the secret of his many years of success, he simply says: “Like fruit, like spirit.” The broad range of exclusive spirits with refined flavours proves him right: the range extends from apples, pears and berries to grapes, wild fruit and plums, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes and beer.

Since 1450, damsons have been farmed in the Alpine village of Stanz near Landeck in Tyrol, Europe’s highest fruit growing region. In 2005, a so-called ‘indulgence region’ was created in honour of the local damsons. The community has somewhat more than 650 inhabitants, approx.150 households and 54 distilleries where 90 distillers produce all kinds of quality brandies. This density alone warrants the name of ‘distillery village’.

The company’s ongoing quality strategy bore fruit yet again at the World Spirits Award with classification as a World Class Distillery 2013 and gold for the Spenling plum, red Williams pear, bock beer, Bier Eichenfass (oak barrel beer) and Gerste Eiche (oak barley) and silver for the cherry.