{"id":2867,"date":"2016-12-29T09:22:49","date_gmt":"2016-12-29T08:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/?p=2867\/"},"modified":"2017-02-01T09:44:23","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T08:44:23","slug":"your-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/2016\/your-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Your order?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Private brands.<\/strong> The first thing most of you will recall are the cheaper foods offered by every\u00a0supermarket chain. We have them as well. But on a completely different level<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This is my summary of this year\u2019s work and projects we are really proud of.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It all began with Pavel Varga<\/strong>. The owner and founder of L\u2019or Special Drinks. He was the first\u00a0and only distiller in the Czech Republic who did not consider us a threatening competition\u00a0when we started our business. He treated us with professional respect. And it was him who\u00a0ordered our Beer Schnapps for his Russian customers in 2005.<\/p>\n

During the 1990s, Pavel was probably the largest producer of absinthe in the world. In 2007,\u00a0when we distilled the first batch of St. Antoine<\/a> \u2013 the first absinthe in our assortment \u2013 not\u00a0only did he not curse us for doing so, but he was sincerely happy and supported us<\/strong>. And\u00a0when he opened the first Absintheria in Prague in 2010, our absinthes were there right next\u00a0to his own. I can\u2019t even imagine other Czech distillers offering products of their direct\u00a0competitor. Especially if they are not bound by blood, ownership or financial matters.<\/p>\n

And the very same Pavel, who can make as much absinthe as he wants, ordered a custom-made exclusive product<\/strong> from us. The reason was he trusts us and knows we are better at\u00a0making absinthe than just about anyone. This particular batch is not for sale yet as it is still\u00a0aging nicely. But they will start selling it soon and I will be the first to buy a bottle as we\u00a0ourselves didn\u2019t keep any.<\/p>\n

Pavel, you\u2019re the man!<\/p>\n

Our work continued with an amazing project for the Le Valmont Club & Lounge<\/strong>, a bar with\u00a0the spirit of a Paris cabaret, opened this year. Jarda Janou\u0161ek<\/strong>, their head bartender, asked\u00a0us to create their very own gin.<\/p>\n

The only requirement was for it to not be too flowery or citrusy. And so we created Le Gin\u00a0Occulte<\/a>, a sinful gin whose aroma and taste will take your mind to a luxurious 19 th century\u00a0brothel in Paris, or brasserie \u00e0 femmes, as they used to call it. It is spicy and piquant. Just\u00a0like when a dominatrix spanks you with a whip. Exactly as you like it.<\/p>\n

The gin became such a sensation that we managed to sell the entire year\u2019s batch in six\u00a0months. We distilled a second batch in November. Twice the volume.<\/p>\n

On top of it all, Le Valmont won two categories of the prestigious Czech Bar Awards<\/a> \u2013 the\u00a0Best Club of the Year and the Best New Establishment. So who knows what will happen to\u00a0the double batch.<\/p>\n

We also did a fantastic distillation for the legendary Bugsy\u2019s Bar<\/strong> owned by V\u00e1clav Voj\u00ed\u0159.<\/p>\n

We decided on a gin which would mirror the DNA and atmosphere of the bar. Therefore,\u00a0every bartender picked one<\/strong> favourite herb<\/strong> that would represent him. For example V\u00e1clav\u00a0Voj\u00ed\u0159 picked pink peppercorn, Honza Brani\u0161 picked jasmine, Honza Teska picked fresh\u00a0grapefruit zest and so on.<\/p>\n

We proportioned the herbs, added our signature juniper and other spices to make it crystal\u00a0clear who\u2019d made it and where it came from.<\/p>\n

The resulting Bugsby\u2019s DNA gin<\/a> was first tasted by the bar team on 15 November 2016 and\u00a0it was a success. I don\u2019t know if I am allowed to write about this and I\u2019m not sure if they invite\u00a0me over ever again but I\u2019m going to write it anyway. Sorry, blokes.<\/p>\n

On that day, Bugsby\u2019s Bar hosted a gin tasting for a certain respected magazine about wine\u00a0and spirits. There were 24 gin samples to be tested and the jury consisted of bartenders, gin\u00a0distributors and gin producers. I brought the first two bottles of DNA gin, hand-bottled just a\u00a0couple of hours before the event. Other than me, nobody had drunk the gin ever before. The\u00a0jury was handed numbered samples during the blind tasting and nobody knew which brand\u00a0had which number.<\/p>\n

Bugsby\u2019s DNA gin won.<\/p>\n

But V\u00e1clav is a man of principle and decided to withdraw from the competition. Well, it\u00a0would\u2018ve looked staged if the Bugsby\u2019s DNA gin won a tasting hosted by the Bugsby\u2019s Bar.\u00a0But it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Many thanks to you, V\u00e1clav, and the entire Bugsby\u2019s Bar team!<\/p>\n

Just a couple of days before the end of the year, we managed to bottle this year\u2019s last\u00a0custom order. It was for another Prague legend, Ale\u0161 P\u016fta and his Hemingway Bar<\/strong>. This co-operation can actually be traced back to 2012.<\/p>\n

Just like the Prague Absintheria pioneered genuine distilled absinthes that you can buy\u00a0straight on the street whenever you feel like it, Ale\u0161 pioneered genuine distilled absinthes in\u00a0a bar environment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When he opened the Hemingway in October 2009, absinthe was a cornerstone of the menu.\u00a0And from there it spread to other bars. Bartenders and guests discovered that absinthe was\u00a0not that crazy chemical thing with a burning sugar cube, but that it was actually served with a\u00a0beautiful water fountain.<\/p>\n

In April 2016, 4 years after the initial idea, the blokes from the bar paid us a visit. They\u00a0helped us rub wormwood and assisted in creating the recipe. Recipe I made up on the spot,\u00a0right in front of them. Recipe I didn\u2019t write down and can no longer remember. It happened at\u00a0that very moment and nobody will ever be able to replicate it. That\u2019s how the unique\u00a0Hemingway\u2019s Six Fingers Cat Absinthe No. 1<\/a> was made. Number 1 means that we\u2019ll be\u00a0distilling the second batch shortly. Completely different from the first one. And just as unique.\u00a0Created during their visit. And next batch during the next visit.\u00a0I wish for Ale\u0161\u2019s children to come and visit our children, who could then distil the\u00a0Hemingway\u2019s Absinthe No. 99 for them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We are happy to be trusted by bartenders and people in the field. They know we would\u00a0never create<\/strong> anything for them that would be worse than<\/strong> our own products. All of our\u00a0custom-distilled products are just like those we would choose ourselves.<\/p>\n

And this is how it\u2019s supposed to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Private brands. The first thing most of you will recall are the cheaper foods offered by every\u00a0supermarket chain. We have them as well. But on a completely different level. This is my summary of this year\u2019s work and projects we are really proud of. It all began with Pavel Varga. The owner and founder of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zufanek.cz\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}