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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.

Drink Syndikat: Enjoy bar culture at home

Since 2014, Erik Pfauth and Jens Hoffmann have been creating cocktail kits for at home use – of the highest standards and inspired by the international bar scene. They cooperate for this purpose with renowned bartenders and independent distilleries. Their fascination for high-quality spirits and the knowledge gathered in recent years are concentrated in the spirits collection. To date, a spirits quartet with innovative character has been created: 3 x rum and 1 x gin.

Erik and Jens are fascinated by rum, because there is scarcely another spirit that is so multifaceted, in their view. It is therefore their centrepiece for the creation of new taste sensations. Nicolas Kröger from Wagemut Produktion GmbH is responsible for development and production. He imports Caribbean rum and refines it in sherry and port barrels, among others – with his expertise and according to the directives of Drink Syndikat.

Cookie Dough Rum has an enticing biscuit-vanilla aroma, integrated into rums from Barbados and Panama, and matured in white oak barrels. Port Cask Rum Panama is a blend of 8, 13 and 18-year-old rum, matured in tawny port barrels. Hazelnut Rum is a duet of rum and spirits with natural hints of roasted hazelnuts. The rum from the renowned Foursquare Rum Distillery from Barbados matured for twelve years in ex-bourbon whiskey barrels. It was ground with the hazelnut spirit of the Black Forest distiller Stefan Marder. The blend matured for three months in freshly emptied Pedro Ximénez sherry barrels.

At the World Spirits Award, gold was awarded to Cookie Dough Infused Rum, and silver to Hazelnut Rum, Port Cask Rum and the Dry Gin house gin.

Gebhard Hämmerle Privatbrennerei – Every drop is a treasure

More than 130 years ago, Gebhard Hämmerle laid the foundation stone for the Vorarlberg fine distillation dynasty with the foundation of the Freihof Distillery. In 1952, his grandson and successor decided to produce limited vintage brandies, made from the best fruit of each harvest. Since then, the Gebhard Hämmerle Distillery has been producing crystal-clear delicacies of this brand. “Making good fruit brandies is a solid handcraft; to capture the finest nuances of the aroma and flavour of a fruit in a distillate, is an art.” The traditional distillation processes have been perfected in accordance with this principle for over 50 years. An uncompromising selection process over many stages of production ensures that only the best (‘Vom ganz Guten’) comes into the conical bottles.

Every single harvest batch is processed separately. All bottles display the year, the bottling date and the batch number. Thus the development of the distillates can be followed over the years, which ensures the basis for top class distillates. The best cultivation methods and the best varieties can be chosen over the years of searching for the ideal fruit with a typical aroma and an optimal degree of maturity. Apart from pure pome, drupe, and berry brandies, a gentian distillate compliments the standard range as an Alpine rarity. Great vintage years as well as choice wild fruits are offered in limited batches as ‘Herzstück’ (‘core’ elements). This term is only used for fruit brandy rarities which reach the personal ideals of exceptional quality. Gebhard Hämmerle has fulfilled a dream with this.

The World Class Distillery 2016 was in the spotlight with a great haul: there was double gold for Herzstück Brombeere (blackberry) (World Spirits Award 2016), gold for Vom ganz Guten Vogelbeere (rowanberry), Herzstück Traubenkirsch (black cherry), Vom ganz Guten Enzian (gentian), Herzstück Mispel (medlar) and Vom ganz Guten Williams (Williams pear), silver for Herzstück Himbeere (raspberry), Herzstück Quitte (quince) and Vom ganz Guten Holunder (elderberry).