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"Our secret: no secrets!" - Interview with Maennerhobby
Anyone in Germany with even the slightest interest in craft spirits will have stumbled across Maennerhobby at least once. The distillery from the Baltic Sea coast started out as a small passion project - and has developed into a beacon of the German craft scene. We spoke to founder Martin Neumann about his Maennerhobby manufactory.
Buy Maennerhobby spirits
- Flavor: vanilla, Caribbean, banana, toffee
- Style: Single Cask Rum
- Flavor: Intense aniseed flavor, fine citrus note
- Style: Sambuca
- Flavor: sweet, slightly tart, warm finish
- Style: Beer liqueur
- Flavor: Intensely floral, subtle juniper and ginger notes
- Style: Dry Gin
- Flavor: Vanilla, woody notes, tropical fruits, light sea breeze
- Style: Blended rum
- Flavor: woody sweetness, intense, full-bodied spiciness, roasted aromas
- Style: Spiced rum
- Flavor: fruity, fresh, tangy lemon
- Style: Lemon liqueur
- Flavor: powerful, elegant
- Style: Gin
- Flavor: full-bodied, fruity raspberry
- Style: Raspberry brandy
- Flavor: Intensely fruity, creamy, long finish
- Style: Blackcurrant liqueur
- Flavor: Intensely fruity sea buckthorn
- Style: Sea buckthorn spirit
- Flavor: fruity, tart sloe, mild
- Style: Sloe liqueur
- Flavor: fruity-sweet, sea buckthorn, mild
- Style: Sea buckthorn spirit
- Flavor: sweetish, marzipan
- Style: Sloe gin
- Flavor: warm, pure, intense hazelnut
- Style: Hazelnut spirit
Honest & Rare: There are about as many women as men working in your now fairly professional distillery. So why the name Maennerhobby?
Martin Neumann: Because we want to be provocative! Joking aside: When we founded the company, we were just two men and we couldn't really think of anything great. My wife Katharina then said half-laughingly: 'Why don't you call it MAENNERHOBBY? It's your fun project anyway' And so the name was out in the world.
In retrospect, however, the name still turned out to be extremely appropriate. A hobby is usually done with passion and dedication. And that's exactly what we still do today - even if the 'hobby' has become bigger than planned.
And by the way: there are significantly more women than men working for us!
A small hobby turned into a manufactory with a signal effect - and a range that is impressive.
You started in 2016 and since then you have not only made a name for yourself in the German craft scene, but have also collected countless awards. What is your secret?
To give you a quick rundown: We've now won over 200 international awards. That's something to be proud of. Our secret is that we have no secrets! We are very transparent about many things, and not just since our new building, which is very transparent. I believe it is due to our traditional way of production. We strictly follow our slogan: NATURAL.REAL.HANDMADE. Perhaps the judges at the competitions simply love having a "craft product" on their tongues again, alongside the many new, modern and flavored products.
From a product perspective: Always the best raw materials, high input of goods in the raw materials, long trials, great experts. And our own aspiration to simply make great products is probably what makes our delicious spirits what they are.
You don't actually have a classic distilling background. Where did the desire to produce your own spirits come from?
In 2014 - the year the company was founded - I simply wanted to get out of my online world and do something 'honest in real life'. Something that I could identify with. I would have loved to do something with meat - but I didn't have a 'ticket' for that, so I didn't have a master's degree. As a family, we like to buy locally, have only bought meat from the producer for 20 years and always make sure our kids eat 'really good food'. So something to do with enjoyment and nutrition was obvious. I also always wanted to produce something - and that's how I came up with spirits.
On the one hand, you don't need a master's degree here - and on the other, this huge playground simply came with so many great opportunities. That's when I was hooked. And in the meantime - or rather for almost exactly five years now - we've also been employing specialists. Our team now includes a master distiller, a journeyman and an apprentice.
"Quality & honest work will always bear fruit"
When did you realize that you could actually make a living from your "Maennerhobby" - and how did that feel?
We're still trying to do that today! 😉 I worked for Bono for the first two years. When the first employee - my lovely wife Katharina - was hired: I knew then that it was going to work. It felt good! It really did. I never doubted that. I still believe that quality and honest work will always bear fruit!
You started with a caraway schnapps. Why caraway of all things?
Because in 2015 I thought: everyone is already making gin! Start with something regional, if you fuck it up, maybe nobody will notice. Two fallacies in one thought...
Caraway has a long tradition here on the Baltic coast in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The old brands were sold to industrial and mixed companies in the 90s. I wanted to make a 'caraway craft alternative'. Really with real caraway seeds.
The Maennerhobby distillery's tank farm - this is where the countless spirit creations are stored and matured - and soon more and more rum too.
Your range now also includes numerous brandies, spirits, gin, liqueurs - and even rum. Is there anything you can't do?
Um... no! Yes, we can: we are not allowed to produce spirits with protected designation of origin. But we could 'technically do' anything. But we are trying to finally focus. At the beginning of 2024, we streamlined our range, got rid of or phased out a few products and now really want to focus on rum. We're already looking forward to the future and have countless ideas.
Why rum of all things? For a distillery that usually relies on regional ingredients, it's a rather unusual spirit.
I love rum! And actually cognac too. But cognac is called brandy in Germany and doesn't sound very sexy. So I wanted to make rum. We don't have blinkers on and are dogmatically anchored to regionality - even though it plays a big role for us. But you want to stand for something beyond the region at some point.
So the 'making out' began. And as it turns out: It's going quite well! In June of this year, for example, we won the title of "World's Best Rum Under 5 Years" at the World Rum Awards for our Limited Edition 1000 Lakes - which is unfortunately now sold out. That was a real accolade for rum made in Germany.
"World's best rum under 5 years old" - an accolade for rum from Germany
How does the rum production process work? Do you get the molasses and distil it yourself? Or do you buy an already distilled rum and then refine it Maennerhobby-style in your own distillery?
That's exactly what makes the difference for us: we do it ourselves! We get the molasses in the tanker, ferment and distil everything here on site. Of course, it's extremely time-consuming - but we can do it 😉
We buy different types of molasses. Mostly Paraguayan organic sugar cane molasses. But also Cuban molasses - if the Cubans let us. More molasses from other exciting countries will be added soon.
The Krum Rum Limited Edition "1000 Lakes" was voted best rum under 5 years old at the World Rum Awards.
What makes your rum so special?
The quality of our molasses is special, as is our specially developed fermentation and distillation process. This is what makes our Krum rum so aromatic, even though it is produced in Germany. As with whisky, there is of course always the customer mindset: 'If it comes from Germany, which is otherwise produced in the Caribbean, it can't be anything! But I think we've already been able to prove the opposite.
Your full name now also includes the little word brewery. So can we expect Maennerhobby beers soon?
Nobody needs to count on it: We already have the beer here! However, it is a truly regional product, made from regional malt, which is only available here at home. Our master brewer Carl does a really good job. So if you would like to drink or buy it: We look forward to your visit to our beautiful new home here in Mönchhagen - in the immediate vicinity of the beautiful Hanseatic city of Rostock.
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About the autor:
Katalog & Marketing Managerin
Für mich geht nichts über das Entdecken kleiner Manufakturen. Ob das der Micro Craft Brauer aus Bayern oder die sächsische Brennerei ist, die es bereits seit Jahrzehnten gibt - hauptsache klein, regional verwurzelt und mit Sinn für's Handwerk!
- Liebt: frische Luft, ihren Hund & Vinyl
- Favorite drinks: wechseln mit so ziemlich jedem Glas...
- Empfehlung des Monats: Alkoholfreier Gin. Der EASIP Fields holt den Frühling ins Glas!
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