Our distillery Piekfeine Brände is a craft distillery at the Europahafen in the Überseestadt in Bremen. Since 2011, we have been producing fruit brandies & spirits, liqueurs, gin, whisky and more in our glass manufactory in genuine handcraft and with great attention to detail. If you want to learn more about it, we cordially invite you to our guided tours, tastings and workshops. In our wooden barrel warehouse, seven vintages of single malt are already maturing in various oak barrels, which are processed and converted for us by a Bremen barrel maker. Regionality is very important to us - because that's exactly how we bring a piece of home into the bottle with each of our Piekfeinen spirits.
Quality
From the exclusive processing of flawless and clean raw materials to the clean, controlled fermentation in V6A stainless steel tanks to the use of our excellent soft drinking water from Bremen, we place the highest value on quality in every step of our production, whitch you can taste it in all our spirits.
Tradition
With our distillery we have brought the craft of distilling to the traditional Hanseatic City of Bremen. Here we are producing all our spirits 100% by hand and according to the traditional rough and fine distillation process. Even though this is significantly more time-consuming and cost-intensive, our distillates are even milder, finer and of higher quality due to the double distillation.
Regionality
We are obtaining our fruit mainly from small fruit growers who uphold the cultivation of orchards and with whom we have a close and trustfull relationship. As far as possible, we process raw materials from the region, for example the apple variety Finkenwerder Herbstprinz from the Alte Land - rare wild fruits or more southern fruit we are obtaining from selected European suppliers.
Sustainability
We are attaching importance to sustainable and energy-efficient production with maximum use of raw materials. When equipping our bottles, we dispense with unnecessary outer packaging and are gradually converting our closures to glass. Even if we have not yet reached our goal, step by step we are moving towards a complete sustainable distillery.
Our gin family makes a new appearance. New bottle, new design, a new family member:Triple Peak Pink Label. Huge hibiscus flowers are distilled for this. And we are more than proud of the result.
But in 2021 there is even more reason to celebrate, namely the first round anniversary of our distillery: On 11 November 2021, Piekfeine Brände will be 10 years old. On 11.11.11 at 11:11 a.m. Birgitta Schulze van Loon founded the Piekfeine Brände. This "schnapps number" has brought luck and contributed to the success story of Piekfeine Brände. Highly motivated, we will continue to write our success story forward.
Two experts - one "schnapps idea"! The wine and spirits specialist Tim Kalbhenn and Birgitta Schulze van Loon have been developed and distilled the spicy aquavit "Bremer Kööm". Eleven botanicals are used in this spicy aquavit. In addition to the main botanicals caraway and dill, Bremen kale is used here as a special ingredient.
Our successful aperitif liqueur Rosalie has been launched. The fruity strawberries and highly aromatic rose with a hint of bitter orange make this light spirit an ideal aperitif base.
In July 2018, we have opened our second location in Bremen's Osterfeuerberg district with our whisky warehouse. We have used this historic location primarily for our whisky events. In addition, the premises could be rented for private parties of up to 40 people.
After five years of storage, we are launching our first 5-year-old Van Loon The First Hanseatic Single Malt Whisky in August 2017. But that's not all, because if you can do gin and whisky, you can also do rum. As the first Hanseatic distillery ever, we therefore produce our first in-house rum only a few months later, in December 2017: Alma Norte.
An aromatic start into the Christmas season. The orange whisky liqueur from our Whisky Van Loon, which has won two gold medals, will delight our customers as an Xmas special edition.
In addition to our existing brandies and spirits as well as Van Loon The First Hanseatic Single Malt Whisky, our first Gin Triple Peak Yellow Label will be bottled in July 2015. An extraordinary creation from the Nordic wild fruits elderberry, sea buckthorn, rosehip and Earl Grey tea.
The time has come: we have been waiting for three years. Finally, our grain distillate can be called "whisky" and we are launching our first three-year-old Van Loon The First Hanseatic Single Malt Whisky. Our first vintage was quickly sold by exclusive collectors.
In May 2013, Birgitta, received the Bremen Founder's Prize for Piekfeine Brände and may call herself Bremen's most successful founder in 2013. Wow! What an important and great moment for the distiller, who still is putting a lot of work and passion into her distillery today.
And it rains more medals: Our sloe brandy is named "Varietal Brandy of the Year" at the "Destillata" in Vienna in 2013. This makes it the best of all the sloe brandies that were awarded gold. For our Williams pear brandy, quince brandy and forest raspberry brandy we are awarded as well.
Quinces are very hard to come by these days - which is why we are establishing the Bremen Quince Day in October 2013. Once a year, all people from the surrounding area of Bremen can bring their quinces to us in the distillery if they have a harvest of 10 kg or more. Year after year, we distil the quince brandy from private gardens. It doesn't get more regional than this.
In March 2012, we first produced a grain distillate from regional grain for our Van Loon The First Hanseativ Single Malt Whisky. Since then, we have been distilling it annually in the traditional Scottish double post-still method on small copper stills.
In the same year, we are awarded the Media Award 2012 of the HOCHSPRUNG initiative in Munich. HOCHSPRUNG is an initiative of the Bavarian State Ministry of Science, Research and Arts to promote start-ups: The Media Award is an important distinction for company founders like Birgitta and a great recognition of her work. The award shows that she hits the right note with the communication of Piekfeine Brände and her products.
What started out primarily as a private interest in the variety of different flavours of fine spirits quickly developed into a desire on the part of our founder Birgitta Schulze van Loon to learn the difficult craft of fruit distilling professionally. In 2011, after her two-year apprenticeship, which she was almost the only woman to complete, she passed her final journeyman's examination and received her journeyman's certificate as a distiller. During this time, she gained practical experience in top distilleries in the Black Forest, South Tyrol and Austria.
As a qualified businesswoman, it is easy for Birgitta Schulze van Loon to draw up a business plan and thus put her vision on solid ground. Namely, to bring fine drinking culture to the North as an ambassador. She chose a truly memorable date and a "schnapps number" at that to open the first and still only distillery in Bremen, PiekfeinenBrände, on 11.11.11.
Of course, our success story cannot be written alone. Behind it is our small, fine team, which consists of permanent employees and working students. We currently employ nine people, some of whom have been with us for a long time. Thanks to this long-standing loyalty, our team has grown together closely and knows our distillery in all its facets.
In order to provide variety in our daily work, our team members are deployed in a variety of ways. For example, Rasmus, our employee in our shop, regularly advises at spirits fairs. Elli, responsible for the order processing department, also does sales and already hosts the gin tasting . In addition, our production manager Henner beside his main duty, leads various workshops. Domenic, our apprentice, is everywhere. That's exactly how the work stays interesting and varied.
Since 2019, we are training distillers - we currently have one apprentice in our team. It is particularly important to us to teach our apprentices how to distil and to give the younger generation the opportunity to immerse themselves in this very special craft.