March 2021 – Faer Isles Distillery

Our German Gin Gem

 

When we selected a gin still from Müller Brennereianlagen, we were buying into a long tradition of German engineering, quality, and craftmanship.

Established in 1929, this is a 4th generation family business with a long tradition of hand-made and hand-hammered copper stills. But in addition to following time-honored traditions, they are also an innovative company with a patented column technology that is quite unique, offering a very efficient and flavor enhancing distillation method. Müller has delivered stills to 51 countries on 6 continents, so although small and focused on hand-made craftmanship, they are truly and international provider.

It is no coincidence that Müller is established in Oberkirch, just a few kilometers from the French border and Strasbourg. The small village of only 800 inhabitants is at the center of a small area with approximately 100 distilleries! The county (Ortenaukreis) has 6,000, and the region (Baden) has 15,000. So, this is indeed the very heart of German distilling country, a density that neither Scotland nor Kentucky can compete with.

According to one of the 4. Generation Müller brothers now running the company, Sebastian: “It all started in 1726, when empress Maria Theresa of Austria allowed the farmers in her empire to distil leftover fruits and turn them into spirits. The limit was max. 300 L pure alcohol per year, and this law still exists. It is the so called “Abfindungsbrennerei”.”

Our gin still will be 400 L still and will be delivered in May, so installation and test production are scheduled for June, and we plan to have our first gin product on the Faroese market late summer.