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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.

WoifGin: Sustainability and organic certification

Markus Peherstorfer has been refining the family tradition of distilling in his Waldviertel hometown and experimenting with it himself for years. His initial results were good but lacking focus. Then, in 2020, his good friend and neighbour Hubert Krenn asked him why he didn’t want to do ‘something proper’. Over the course of a long night of discussion, the idea for a Waldviertel Premium London Dry Gin was born. After long experimentation with a two-litre mini distillery, he had finally created something excellent. This is how the Woif brand originated, with the focus on something special right from the start: a quality product with an unusual name and the development of an organic line.

After converting the stables on his parents’ farm into a tasting room, the ‘Woifshöhle’, and its opening in September 2021, things happened quickly: WoifGin GmbH was founded at the beginning of December 2021, events were attended, marketing was driven forward, the online store was opened and more. There was already great success in the first year when ‘Das goldene Stamperl’ won Bronze at the Destillata and became the Lower Austrian regional champion. These accolades drove the development of further gin variants. The results are LuXX (with notes of lemon, lavender and lemon balm) and FiNK (sloe gin with the aroma of sloe harvested after the frost) as well as the cocktail punch creation NEPoLUXX (turmeric, ginger and more). WoifGin has been certified organic since February 2022, followed by LuXX in May. All ingredients come from controlled organic cultivation by regional partner companies. This sustainability strategy is an essential part of the corporate philosophy.

At the World Spirits Award, there was Gold for Luxx Waldviertler Premium BIO Gin and Woif Waldviertler Premium BIO Gin London Dry, and Bronze for FiNK Waldviertler Premium BIO SLOE Gin.

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.