The founder of Gonzalez Byass, Manuel Maria Gonzalez, named ‘Tio Pepe’ after his ‘Uncle Joe’ who created his pale, very dry white wine in 1844. Uncle Joe also helps to find funding on the first wine house. Tio Pepe is the most sold fino sherry in the world. 35cl bottle was bought…
Whyte & Mackay comes from Glasgow, it was established in 1844 by James Whyte and Charles Mackay. Whyte & Mackay main market is the UK where it has a firm 3% market share. In the whole world it is 26th most sold Scotch Whisky. The company has been sold many times,…
Cross Keys Gin is produced in Latvia, Riga by Latvijas Balzams. It’s the same company who produces the infamous Riga Black Balsam, a bitter herbal digestive for which every Latvian is proud of. Cross Keys got its name from the ancient symbol of Riga, part of it’s heraldry. Cross Keys Gin…
Angela Black Currant liqueur is made by Estonian company AlcorDistillery, which went bankrupt in 2016. Not any infos about this product are available. It is still on sale at Alcoshop at Latvia, price was 4.19€ for a 50cl bottle. Nose is sweet and has a decent berry aroma. Mouthfeel is thick…
Finlandia is only premium class vodka from Finland. It is 5th most sold on vodka in that class and owned by Brown-Forman. It was invented in 1970 in Finland and produced in Koskenkorva and Rajamäki until then. Even though it is owned by a USA company, it’s produced in Finland and…
Southern Comfort is a fruit flavoured “whiskey” liqueur. It was created in 1874 and originally it used whiskey as a base spirit. Later the whiskey was replaced by neutral grain spirit and just a whiskey flavoring was used. In 2017 Sazerac bought the brand and returned the bourbon whiskey to its…
J.P Wiser’s is the oldest continuously working Canadian whisky brand, established in 1857. It is produced by Hiram Walker Distillery. This 10 years old triple barrel import version is on sale only in Europe. It’s a blend of corn whiskey and rye whiskey (10%), matured in ex-Bourbon, Canadian rye and new…
Koskenkorva has for decades been the most selling alcohol in Finland. Not about its taste, but because it's state owned producer had a monopoly of alcohol manufacturing in Finland for over 40 years. Actually when I was young, Koskenkorva was a synonym of vodka, I hardly knew there are also other…
Sir Edward’s is a trademark of Bardinet, a French company. Bardinet’s parent company La Martiniquaise bought Glen Moray distillery in 2008 (seller was Glenmorangie). There mostly comes the malt whiskey for Sir Edward’s blended scotch. Likely this is the birth year of the label, even though there is a year 1891…
Bozoline is a Lithuanian herbal bitter. It is produced by Alita, Lithuanian wine house. It was established in 1963, as a state-owned wine company to produce wine from fruits and berries. The company was privatized in 1995 and after that have enlarged its action to sparkling wines, brandy and other spirits.…