The Kilbeggan Distillery is said to be one of the first licensed distilleries in Ireland. Its history stretches back as far as 1757, when Matthew Macmanus founded a distillery in the town of Kilbeggan. The distillery operation remained on a small level for almost a hundred years, until John Locke came…
Villa Massa is a lemon liqueur made by the Italian Massa brothers, Sergio and Stefano. Its production was started in 1991 and it uses lemons grown exclusively in the province of Sorento. The lemons are peeled and the peels are extracted in strong alcohol. After a few days, the solution is…
Original Minttu produced by Chymos is a classic and well-known drink in the slope cafes of ski resorts, where its marketing has been targeted. Koskenkorva also noticed the popularity of this peppermint schnapps and launched its own peppermint liqueur in the early 2000s. Koskenkorva Minttu is 35% aBV, so clearly weaker…
Salvodore is a Moldovan brandy. It is manufactured by Ungheni-Vin and imported into the Baltics by Respomar. It is mainly sold in Maxima grocery stores in all Baltic countries. In addition to the Baltics, it is also available at least in Ukraine. Ungheni-Vin produces brandy under several different brands. Salvodore San…
Braastad is a small family company with its own 40-hectare grape plantations, where it produces cognac from start to finish. Braastad, or actually Tiffon's cognac house, was founded in 1875. The Braastad name was only adopted later, when the Norwegian Sverre Braastad came to work for the company and married the…
Together with Koskenkorva, Finlandia is the flagship product of Rajamäki Distillery, the biggest alcohol producer in Finland. Finlandia was recently sold to Brown-Forman and due to that has gained more attention in the USA market and slowly also in other continents. Finlandia Grapefruit, i.e. grapefruit-flavored vodka, was released in 2006. It’s…
Ginjinha or simply Ginja is one of Portugal's national drinks. It is a liqueur made from cherries (ginja ~ sour cherry), produced only from natural ingredients, i.e. no dyes or other preservatives besides sugar have been used. The cherries have been extracted in strong alcohol, which is most commonly aguardiente, i.e.…
Söul is an apple schnapps made in Saaremaa, Estonia. The producer, Wösel, is a few years old company that started with the production of flavored vinegars and has quickly expanded to various other drinks. In the alcohol selection, they have also gin made with 12 different herbs. The apple schnapps is…
The birth of Blue Curacao is related to a story where a distilled spirit made from bitter, small oranges made from the island of Curacao was put into wooden barrels and shipped to Europe. Apparently, the bitter orange somehow reacted with the wood, and upon arriving in Europe, the distillate in…
Coffee liqueur is the basic product of most alcohol manufacturers and of course also Estonian Liviko produces it. Arabica coffee beans, sugar, water and rectified spirit have been used. The product is bottled quite inexpensively in a plastic bottle with a very simple label. 50 cl cost €5.65. The liqueur is…