History
The story of Aalborg Akvavit
History
The story of Aalborg Akvavit begins with the three "aquavit
fathers" Isidor Henius, An-thon Brøndum and Harald Jensen, who
represent three different philosophies within aquavit production.
These personalities have each contributed to the development of
aquavit, not to mention Danish Distillers (De Danske
Spritfabrikker).
Isidor Henius (1820-1901) was the most influential
and significant contributor to the Danish aquavit tradition. He was
born in Poland, and when he was 13 years old he served his
apprenticeship with a small distillery. In 1838, at the age of 17,
Henius went to Denmark, now a skilled distiller. He spent the
following years modernizing distilleries all over the country, and
also in Aalborg where he finally settled.
Henius was an expert in both effective industrial production and in
alcohol rectification - the process of refining alcohol through
distillation and removal of fusel oil.
At the age of 26 he started the Aalborg Privileged Syrup and
Alcohol Factory (Aalborg privilegerede Sirup- og Spritfabrik), and
on 15 January 1846 he launched Aalborg Taffel Akvavit - a clear and
strong caraway aquavit which, due to its high quality, soon became
the most preferred aquavit in Denmark - a status it still enjoys
today. Isidor Henius is therefore considered "the pioneer of modern
aquavit".
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Isidor Henius |
Anthon Brøndum (1809-1873) was the son of a
very experienced aquavit distiller, Christen Anthon Brøndum
(1777-1846), who taught future aquavit distillers at the state's
test distillery in Copenhagen and published a handbook of aquavit
distillation.
C.A. Brøndum owned a distillery in Pilestræde in Copenhagen, and he
was very passionate about the art of distilling and the craft of
creating milder and finer aquavits with more nuances and a more
approachable taste, which he passed on to his son Anthon.
In 1830 Anthon Brøndum became a member of the Copenhagen Guild of
Aquavit Distillers (Københavns Brændevinsbrænderlaug), and at the
same time he took over his father's distillery in Pilestræde where
he continued with the same passion for the art of
distillation.
In 1840 he founded his own distillery in Snaregade in Copenhagen
and launched the complex and powerful Brøndum Kummenaquavit, which
is now the oldest still existing aquavit in Denmark.
Later on Anthon's son Alfred (1840-1893) joined the company, and
together they launched, among others, A. Brøndum og Søn Fuselfri
Kummenbrændevin which, in 1916, was relaunched as the still
existing Brøndums Snaps, today one of the Danes' preferred aquavits
to enjoy with lunch or as a spiced aquavit. Anthon Brøndum very
much earned his designation as "the craftsman of
aquavit".
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Anthon Brøndum |
Harald Jensen (1837-1914) wanted to be an
artist and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.
However, his father had taken over a distillery in Aalborg and
began making aquavit, and in 1861 he compelled Harald to take over
the distillery which he then owned together with Th. Dencker.
Harald became the sole owner of the distillery in 1863 and then
launched Harald Jensen Taffel Akvavit, among others, which is still
sold today under the name Harald Jensen Akvavit.
Even after taking over his father's distillery Harald never quite
gave up his artistic back-ground, and he became an active part of
the cultural and political life in Aalborg where he has left a
lasting imprint.
Harald's creative talents and colourful personality also became
evident in his distillery where he used a lot of creative
ingredients for that time, such as aniseed, ginger, allspice and
bitter orange. Harald Jensen's personality and approach to aquavit
led to his title of the "artist of aquavit".
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Harald Jensen |
The three fathers of the Danish aquavit as we know it today
together formed the founda-tion of what was later to become Danish
Distillers.
Chresten Andreas Olesen (1845-1920) was deputy
director at Isidor Henius' distillery in Aalborg but left the
position in 1878 to become co-owner of Denmark's second largest
distillery, which was situated in Roskilde. After a few years he
established a partnership with Carl Frederik
Tietgen (1829-1901), titular Privy Councillor.
C.F. Tietgen and C.A. Olesen were both enterprising businessmen at the time, and their joint goal was to form a company to export aquavit to wine-producing countries. Their partnership led to the foundation of Danish Distillers on 9 August 1881. The company was a merger of i.a. C.A. Olesen's distillery in Roskilde and four Jutlandic distilleries in-cluding Isidor Henius' distillery in Aalborg.
After the foundation of Danish Distillers, Isidor Henius became managing director for three of the distilleries. In 1883 he acquired Harald Jensen's distillery and in 1893 Anthon Brøndum's distillery, and in the following years Danish Distillers acquired still more dis-tilleries in Denmark.
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C. F. Tietgen C. A. Olesen |
Before the merger there were numerous small distilleries in
Denmark, at one point over 2,500 of which 273 were in Copenhagen
alone. After the merger the number fell steadily and by 1923 Danish
Distillers owned all remaining distilleries in Denmark. Thus our
pro-duction is based on old Danish spirits traditions, and today
many of our products are still produced according to the
traditional recipes.
Today, all production and distilling expertise are gathered in our
distillery in Aalborg, which is why our selection of aquavit falls
under the collective name of Aalborg Akvavit. There are currently
14 different types of aquavit in the Aalborg Akvavit family.
Pernod Ricard Denmark, which Danish Distillers is now a part of, is
one of the biggest manufacturers and suppliers of spirits in the
Nordic countries. But the base at the com-pany's foundation at the
end of the 19th century was aquavit. Today we are the world's
largest manufacturer of aquavit and supply over 10 geographical
markets as well as Duty-Free /Travel Retail.
