De Danske Spritfabrikker A/S (Danish Distillers)

History

Danish Distillers was founded in 1881 by C.F. Tietgen and C.A. Olesen. At the time they were both enterprising businessmen, and their common goal was to merge a number of smaller distilleries and create a company that could export aquavit to the wine-producing countries.

As managing director they appointed Polish-born Isidor Henius. At only 17 years of age he had already served his apprenticeship as a distiller and was proving himself an enterprising young man in the development of new products. Several of the brands we know and appreciate today date from this period.

Since 1840 the Broendum family had been producing the well-known BROENDUM KUMMENAQUAVIT, and in 1893 this family with its proud distilling traditions joined forces with Danish Distillers.

Another great creative profile of the time was Harald Jensen. In 1862 he took over his father’s distillery in Aalborg and developed his own aquavit. Harald Jensen was in fierce competition with Isidor Henius and Danish Distillers, until in 1883 he sold his company and joined this strong aquavit family.

Anthon Broendum represented good business acumen, while Harald Jensen brought to the distilling traditions a creative strain which revealed itself among other things in an innovative approach to the use of spices. Together they established the foundation on which Danish Distillers is built today.

At that time Denmark had countless small distilleries – over 2500 in all, of which there were 273 in the Copenhagen area alone. Mergers saw that number fall drastically, and by 1923 Danish Distillers owned all the remaining distilleries in Denmark. At the same time Danish Distillers was granted sole rights to produce yeast and spirits in Denmark; a situation that lasted until 1 January 1973 when Denmark joined what was then the EC. For Danish Distillers this was a period marked by tremendous growth, both on the domestic Danish market and internationally.

The year 1989 saw one of the first big mergers in the history of Danish commerce when Danish Distillers, De Danske Sukkerfabrikker and the old Danisco merged to form Danisco A/S. Thus one of the country’s biggest industrial groups was born, with a wide range of international activities within the food and drink sector (including sugar, yeast, ingredients and packaging). Under the aegis of this new company, Danish Distillers continued on its way.

In 1995 Danish Distillers changed its name to Danisco Distillers, until in 1999 Sweden’s V&S Vin & Sprit AB acquired a majority shareholding and the company made a return to its roots and to the proud Danish name: Danish Distillers.

Today, as a subsidiary of V&S, Danish Distillers is an international, high-technological company and a major player in the market for potable spirits and yeast, both in Denmark and internationally.