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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.

Edelbrennerei Friedl Mair – Fruit classics from a professional amateur distiller

In the small community of Flaurling in the Inn Valley, between Innsbruck and Telfs, lives a successful amateur distiller. He discovered his love of spirits over 25 years ago – and this has now become his great passion. Friedl Mair started out with a small licensed distillery which has been successively expanded and enlarged over the years. Investment in modern technology has given rise to a high quality bonded distillery. Further training and curiosity eventually transformed a hobby into a profession! Success did not take long to come and Friedl Mair is now the proud recipient of numerous awards for his products – as well as winning the Tyrol State Prize twice.

His product range of around 50 items is based on ripe, high quality fruit: from pip fruits (especially apples, pears and quince) to stone fruits (in particular damson and as a cigar brandy, apricot, cherry, sour cherry, sloe, greengage and Mirabelle plum) as well as berries (cranberry, rowanberry, elderberry, raspberry, jostaberry, strawberry and juniper berry), pomace and grape marc and specialities such as gentian, carrot and Jerusalem artichoke. Following processing and distillation in the distilling column, these ‘treats for the taste buds based on traditional Tyrolean fruit distilling’ are left to mature in glass balloons. The brandies are sold in hand-painted bottles and on request can be packaged in gift boxes and wooden boxes.

Participation in the World Spirits Award brought classification as a Master Class Distillery 2013. There was gold for the quince, berry cuvée and muscatel grape and silver for the Williams red and damson cuvée.

Schwarze & Schlichte – Brand personalities from Westphalia

The family business Schwarze & Schlichte from Westphalia has been representing the highest quality spirits for the last 345 years with a distinct range of national specialities, regional traditional brands and successful international innovations. This top quality is based on a distilling tradition acquired over centuries which has been passed down over twelve generations. Even today, distilling and maceration still take place at the company’s own distillery where plenty of time and skill are invested. The selection and processing of the best raw materials and continuous control of the production process ensure a consistently high quality. One factor for success is the ongoing brand management in accordance with the specific requirements of the various brand personalities.

Three Sixty Vodka is one of the purest and mildest vodkas in the world. A fourfold distillation process ensures tangible softness and exceptional clarity while the purity of the vodka is all down to the time-consuming “Diamond Filtration” process: the finest filters are used, set with crystals like diamond dust, to remove even the smallest of suspended particles from the distillate. Even the packaging is unique: the facet-cut bottle of pure white shiny glass sets off this premium vodka to perfection. A black velvet label completes the sophisticated design.

The Grappa Bianca from Scavi & Ray is characterised by its full-bodied balanced flavour with powerful and intense aromas of marc. This crystal-clear brandy is soft and deliciously balanced thanks to the exquisite skill of the master distillery. The intense and fruity aroma is reminiscent of the sun-soaked vineyards in Italy.

Both products received a silver medal at the World-Spirits.