Ferdinand's Spirits, Riesling Gin and Vermouth from the Saar Valley
Ferdinand's Spirits is a spirits brand from Saarbrücken that has been producing gin, vermouth, and aperitifs based on Saar Riesling since 2013. The company was founded by four friends from the region, the spirits are distilled at the Avadis Distillery, and the wine is supplied by the VDP winery Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken. It is named after the Royal Prussian forest master Ferdinand Geltz.
Ferdinand's Spirits stands for handmade spirits from the border triangle where the Saar meets the Moselle and Germany, Luxembourg, and France converge. The Saar Dry Gin combines over 30 hand-picked botanicals with an infusion of Riesling from the grand cru Saarburger Rausch vineyard, and this principle is reflected throughout the entire range. Wine from steep slopes, herbs from the garden, and fruit from the trees behind the distillery.
2013, four friends and a Riesling idea
In August 2013, four people teamed up with the goal of creating a gin that tasted of their own region.
Siblings Denis Reinhardt and Erik Wimmers run a distribution agency specializing in spirits in Saarbrücken and are also passionate wine connoisseurs. They spent a year working on the idea of a Riesling gin before the final product was ready. For the recipe, they brought in Andreas Vallendar, a master distiller and trained chemical laboratory technician from Saarburg who studied beverage technology.
The wine is contributed by Dorothee Zilliken, who has been managing the VDP winery Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken with her parents since 2007. This brought two traditional houses together at one table, whose ancestors helped shape the reputation of the Saar. "We want to make a gin that reflects our terroir and our region with all its highlights and special features," Denis later summarized.
The name goes back to Ferdinand Geltz, the Royal Prussian forest master who lived from 1851 to 1925 and co-founded the VDP Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. "Inspired by our heritage" has since been the guiding principle for everything the company bottles.
The company operates under the name Capulet & Montague on Martin-Luther-Straße in Saarbrücken—a name that joins together two feuding Shakespearean houses. It’s a clever touch for a project where a distillery and a winery are working hand in hand. In the process, the distribution agency inadvertently became a brand in its own right.
From Dry Gin to non-alcoholic cordial
Over the years, that single gin has grown into a full range that now includes ten products plus a bitter series.
It begins with the Saar Dry Gin at 44 percent—dry, floral, and juniper-forward—which is also available in a small 200ml bottle for sampling. The Saar Quince adds freshly harvested Muscat quinces and, at 30 percent alcohol, serves as the Saar's answer to British sloe gin. Once a year, the Goldcap edition is released, a special edition made from the heart of the distillate, infused with grapes from the Goldkapsel-Auslese.
The second family is the vermouths, all of which are based on Riesling. The Dry Vermouth is considered the world's first Riesling vermouth, the White is aged in Moselle Fuder barrels, and the Red gets its unusual bitter note from green walnuts. The Rosé Vermouth is the lightest of the bunch, floral from elderflower and fruity from rhubarb and vineyard peach.
In addition, there is the Verjus Cordial made from unripe Riesling grapes and two non-alcoholic cordials—a G&T and a Rosé Aperitif—both intended to be topped with soda. If you want to get an overview, pick up the Experience Set with five miniatures. You can see what is currently in stock in the grid below.
Beyond this, there are always special editions where the house experiments. For example, a Barrel Aged Red Vermouth aged for fifteen months in Moscatel barrels was released in a limited run of 400 bottles. Four bitters round off the range, intended for bartenders who work with dashes. This keeps the assortment clear yet lively, as something new is added every year.
Over 30 botanicals, mostly from nearby
What distinguishes Ferdinand's from many gin brands is the proximity of the ingredients to the distillery.
Directly behind the distillery are the trees for the red vineyard peach, quince, and Rubinette apple. Lavender grows on fallow vineyards in the Konzer Tälchen, the herbs are cultivated in their own garden, and all botanicals are hand-picked. The only things not from the region are the classic spices like cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg that a gin requires.
The base spirit is also not a mass-produced product. Andreas distills the alcohol himself from rye, wheat, and spelt, working in small batches without any industrial shortcuts. The Vallendar family has been distilling fruit at their estate in Wincheringen-Bilzingen since 1824, and you can really taste that experience in the distillates.
Finally, the grapes come from the Saarburger Rausch, a south-facing steep slope on Devonian slate, where long summers ensure late ripening and cold nights provide acidity. Morning fog, slate, and wind shape a flora here that is truly one of a kind.
The fact that this landscape is the primary source of raw materials has consequences for how they work. Fallow vineyards are maintained rather than left to go wild, and the botanicals are harvested exactly where they grow. The commitment to preserving the ecosystem of the Saar Valley explicitly takes precedence over growth at Ferdinand's. If you source your ingredients from your own backyard, you simply cannot afford to exploit it.
Double Gold in San Francisco 2015
Saar Dry Gin was awarded a Double Gold Medal at the 2015 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
As early as 2014, Simon Difford gave the gin his full five-star rating in his Difford's Guide, calling it simply outstanding. Gold followed at the International Spirits Competition along with the title of "Most Aromatic Spirit of the Year," as well as Gold at the Los Angeles International Spirits Competition.
The brand entered the US market in 2016, and by 2023, exports had grown to 42 countries. "While the growing gin market offered very good opportunities for the brand, it is of course highly competitive," Erik says of this journey. For a house that started with a single bottle, that is quite an achievement. Respect.
Awards honor the producer, not us, but they do explain why a distillate from a village on the Moselle ends up on back bars across America. Notably, it is not just the gin, but also the vermouths that have found their way into the international bar scene. Together, they make the brand interesting for bartenders because the gin and vermouth come from the same source and speak the same language in the glass.
Gin and Tonic with sage, Quince with cheese
Depending on the occasion, different bottles from this range are worth picking up.
Saar Dry Gin unfolds in a dry tonic with a sage leaf and a slice of dried lemon, as that gives the floral botanicals room to breathe. The Saar Quince should be served chilled in a small glass alongside aged mountain cheese or game pâté, and it replaces sloe gin at the bar. The Rosé Vermouth, on the other hand, is the summer drink of the collection, served over plenty of ice with a slice of orange.
As a gift, the Experience Set is a popular choice because it contains five characters side by side, meaning no one has to open a full-sized bottle. If you want to follow the wine side of things, you can find the Rieslings from Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken in our shop; for those who want to stick with German gin, take a look at the Windspiel Manufaktur from the Vulkaneifel or browse our gin selection.
Prepare to be surprised by how much vineyard can be packed into a juniper spirit.
