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Stiegenhaushof – A remarkable distillery

Johann Fankhauser, the great-grandfather of the present-day farm owner Martin, was a “Jack of all trades”. In addition to being the mayor and looking after the farm and animals, he also found time to build staircases for his neighbours – hence the name “Stiegenhäuserhof” (staircase farm). In those days, it wasn’t just apples, pears and damsons from the garden that were distilled, but also masterwort from the alpine pastures of the Ahorn area. Martin Fankhauser was a dairy farmer until 2005, who also kept sheep and chickens. After taking a distillation course, he produced his first Williams brandy and won silver in provincial competitions. That was the start of his distillation career: these days over 30 brandies and liqueurs from regional fruits are distilled in his modern licensed distillery.

As a real full-time farmer in the Zillertal Valley, Martin creates his brandies to perfection with passion and skill, and since March 2010 he also holds the title of ‘brandy sommelier’. In 2012 the cowshed was converted into a public-access distillery, with lots of room for tasting sessions, and a view into the sheep shed – after all, the master distiller is also an award-winning sheep farmer and has been breeding Tyrolean mountain sheep since 1996. Kathrin Fankhauser, mother and farmer with heart and soul, devotes herself to Zillertal Valley traditions on the farm, in the distillery and in the kitchen. Her specialities are the sweet liqueurs. “My grandmother took a lot of time to show us all about the preparation of the berries. We used to love the jams and jellies from cowberries, cranberries or red elder. This is how my passion for liqueurs came about, as they are full of fruity flavours down to the last drop.”

In everyday life, three generations live together in the traditional way – naturally and authentically. And this “authenticity” runs through the whole farm. The trademark of the products is the perfect mixture of tradition, region and passion. “Everything which is perfect in the eye or feelings of the beholder, is sexy. Why shouldn’t that also apply for brandies and liqueurs? Our schnapps is a real experience – really sexy. The tastes of the liqueurs capture the sweetness of life – really sweet.”

At the World Spirits Award, the Stiegenhaushof made a very strong showing: as a World Class Distillery 2014 with the title of “Distillery of the Year SILVER 2014”. The Yellow Williams Pear (Spirit of the Year 2014 & World Spirits Award 2014) and Red Williams Pear won double gold. There was gold for Muscat Grape, Fruit Schnapps Cuvée and Damson, and silver for Sloe.

Dictador – Rum from Colombia

In 1751, Severo Arango y Ferro came to Cartagena de Indias on the Caribbean coast in the north of Colombia in order to control and develop trade relations between Spain and the South American colony. His strict regime gained him the nickname of “Dictador”. In 1913, one of his descendants, Don Julio Arango y Parra, founded the Destileria Colombiana. He was heavily involved with the life of the “Dictador” – and had a real passion for rum.

The third generation of the family set itself the goal of conquering the international markets and gained European investors who brought capital and experience to the company. As such, the “Dictador” lifestyle brand is shaped by an exceptional global concept: traditional distilling from Colombia, innovative design from Europe and exclusive bottles from Japan.

In Colombia, the Solera system is used to produce rum – inherited from the old colonial rulers. The bottom row of barrels contains the oldest rums and the rows above contain the younger distillates. When it comes to selling, the rum is taken from the bottom barrels and the removed quantity is re-filled from the row of barrels above. The top row contains the younger rums which have already been stored for a year or several years in barrels but based on the Solera system must be stored for at least three more years. Only barrels that have previously been used to store sherry are employed in this dynamic maturation process.

At the World-Spirits Award, both Dictador rums were awarded gold – having been matured according to the Solera system for 12 and 20 years respectively.