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Sauerländer Edelbrennerei: From hobby to successful business

Fine brandies, spirits and liqueurs have been produced in Kallenhardt for the last 20 years. The product range has been rounded off by Thousand Mountains® Mc Raven Single Malt Whisky. What started out as a hobby has developed into a successful family business. Behind it all is epicurean and businessman, Ulrich Wolfkühler, and a trip to the southern German fruit distilleries towards the end of the 1990s. Some rather poor brandies led to the declaration “We can do better!” and the decision to build up a distillery with family friends, the Wolfkühler family and the Mülheims family, to create natural products without additives – by hand.

The adventure began by acquiring the distilling rights in the year 2000. Raw materials from the region were sourced and a well was built for extracting water of the best quality. They started with a 200-litre plant in a double garage, then, in April 2016, they transferred to a renovated old sawmill. The acquisition of a 1,200-litre pot still plant made the whisky dream come true. Since then, the future of the company has been shaped by a new 1,000-litre plant for fruit distillation and an extension for bottling, dispatch and bottle storage. An expansion of the visitors’ experience area is planned as well as a barrel storage area. Traditional artisanship is combined with innovation, passion, skill and patience. The team of three with the highest demands on quality and taste are a sign that the success story is just beginning.

At the World Spirits Award, there was gold for Thousand Mountains Mc Raven Single Malt Whisky.

Mamont Vodka – The spirit of adventure

The exclusive Mamont Vodka was presented in Austria for the first time at the Vienna Opera Ball in 2016. Its development was not brought about thanks to market research, but rather thanks to two spectacular adventures to the lands of eternal ice. When twelve brave men had to make an emergency landing at the South Pole in 2001, they were only able to escape their icy prison due to their irrepressible will to survive – and because they were able to warm themselves with vodka. Only a year later they attracted more attention on their next adventure. The ice of the Siberian tundra had released a massive mammoth tusk. They started an expedition immediately and, together with scientists, they were able to retrieve an 18,000-year-old mammoth. To pay homage to this symbol of Siberia they decided to produce a vodka that would remind them of the cold and beauty of this country and the magical moments in life.

The unique, curved shape of the vodka bottle represents the mammoth tusk – and the quality standards are unequalled. Mamont Vodka is manufactured in the oldest distillery in Russia, and was founded in 1868 by Konstantin Platonov and Gregoriy Badyn. The plant still stands on the banks of the river Itkul at the foot of the imposing Altai Mountains, and it is the last distillery in Russia that exclusively uses malted grains for alcohol production. Mamont Vodka is made from white winter wheat and is distilled six times. Combined with pure glacier water and filtered through charcoal from native silver birch, it achieves an exceptional silky texture and remarkable clarity. For this it was awarded clear gold at the World Spirits Award.

Stock Polska – Prestige products with history

Polmos Lublin (known today as Stock Polska) was founded by the industrialist Emil Plage in Lublin in 1906 and was able to survive both world wars and the communist state leadership. The company was nationalised in 1948 and re-privatised in 2001. It traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange until 2005 and was sold in 2006. The new owners, Oaktree Capital Management, purchased the spirits division from Eckes Stock in 2007 and thereby laid the foundations for the current Stock Spirits Group. The company has its headquarters in Luxembourg, its service centre in Great Britain and its production sites in the Czech Republic, Italy and Poland.

Stock dates back to the year 1884 when Lionello Stock founded a beverages business in Trieste. He purchased a distillery in 1920 in what is currently part of the Czech Republic with the aim of tapping into new markets. This was followed by distilleries, bottling plants and warehouses in Italy, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Yugoslavia. In the 1920s, Stock was one of the biggest companies of its kind in Europe.

After an absence of 70 years, Stock returned to Poland and began to manufacture at the historic site of Lublin, 150 kilometres south-east of Warsaw. Intensive investment led to the creation of the most modern distillery in Poland and a leadership position on the vodka market. Poland’s most popular flavoured vodka is produced here: Zoladkowa Gorzka.

Lots of Stock products are produced by traditional recipes. These classical brands appeal to connoisseurs all over the world. In return, work is constantly being done on innovations that correspond to modern tastes and new drinking cultures. Quality standards are constantly upheld in both areas, of course.

The quality of the products was recognised at the World Spirits Award with a gold medal for the Orkisz Spelt Vodka.