Smirnoff is the world's best-selling vodka. It was invented by Pyotr Smirnov in the 1860s in Moscow. Pyotr developed carbon filtration to remove impurities from the vodka. It quickly became a very popular vodka until the Russian Tsar in 1904 decided to nationalize all vodka factories. By then, Pyotr was already…
Teacher’s Highland Cream is produced in Glasgow and is owned by Beam Suntory. The whiskey brand was registered in 1884 and was founded by William Teacher. The year 1830 in the bottle comes from when William began selling whiskey at his wife’s grocery store. As with the history of so many…
Gautier VSOP is a blend of cognacs from different regions. The distillates have been matured for a minimum of four and a maximum of six years. It is one of the cheapest VSOP cognacs in Estonia and Latvia, a 50cl plastic bottle costs only € 15.50. The aroma is very light,…
De Kuyper is the world's largest producer of liqueurs. It was founded by Petrus de Kuyper in 1695 in Horst, the Netherlands. It is still a family-owned company, now operating for the eleventh generation. The company, which originally made spirits, moved in 1920 to also make soft liqueurs. Today, De Kuyper’s…
Koskenkorva 7 Botanicals is another flavoured vodka from Finnish company Altia. I like their basic vodka, it’s smooth and has a nice barley aroma. Anyway, most of their flavoured vodkas have been disappointing. The big company way of trying to please everyone makes the products too less flavoured and boring. 7…
Stroh is the most famous alcoholic beverage in Austria. It is on sale in more than 40 countries. The history of the Stroh dates back to the time of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. At the time, the state had no colonies in the Caribbean from which to import sugar cane to make…
Perlino has more than a hundred years of history in the production of vermouths and sparkling wines. Perlino Rosso is made by macerating herbs in alcohol for 30 days. The herb mixture is then filtered and mixed with wine and sugar. White wine is used to produce the product, it gets…
Ararat is an Armenian brandy produced by the Yerevan Brandy Company since 1887. It is made from white grapes grown in Armenia, using traditional methods. The grapes are pressed by the same methods as in the production of sparkling wine. The wine used is distilled twice on copper pot distillation and…
Liviko pepper schnapps from Estonia is an original product that has been on sale for decades. Today, there are several similar products for it that have been brazenly copied by other manufacturers down to the name and label. Pepper schnapps have traditionally been used in Estonia as a medicine for gripes…
Flor De Cana’s story began in 1875 when a young Italian adventurer, Alfredo Francisco Pellas Cane, decided to risk everything. He left his family and safe life, and moved to exotic Nicaragua. After various attempts, 15 years later, he set up a distillery near the San Cristóbal volcano. There he found…