Rheinland Distillers announce minority investment from Diageo through Distill Ventures

Raphael-Vollmar-and-Gerald-Koenen-Rheinland-Distillers-GmbH

Rheinland Distillers has announced an investment from Diageo, through the independent accelerator (a programme that gives developing companies access to mentorship, investors and other support that help them become a self-sufficient businesses), Distill Ventures.

The investment will help drive growth of Rheinland Distillers and the Siegfried brand. In addition to the investment, the Siegfried founders will also gain access to Distill Venture’s acceleration programme.

The Siegfried story started in 2014 when Raphael Vollmar and Gerald Koenen (pictured) – two long-time friends who shared a passion for gin – wanted to rethink and disrupt the gin category. With 4,000 Euros of their own, they founded their company which today produces Siegfried Rheinland Dry Gin and non-alcoholic gin alternative, Siegfried Wonderleaf.

Said Frank Lampen, Co-Founder and CEO, Distill Ventures.”It is a great pleasure for us to have Rheinland Distillers on board as the first producer in the portfolio of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic spirits. It was the passion, innovation and obsession with quality that we saw in Raphael and Gerald which drew us to their brand. Their success story shows precisely where the future of spirits lies: consumers come first and they want the freedom of choice whether with or without alcohol. We look forward to working with Gerald and Raphael to take the Siegfried brand to the next level, imagining a future world of spirits together.”

Raphael Vollmar, Managing Director of Rheinland Distillers GmbH added,”At the beginning, we asked ourselves how far we, as people from outside the industry, would be able to go in such a competitive market with a handcrafted product, 4,000 Euros, hard work and a lot of passion. With today’s step, we are answering this question for ourselves and are delighted to be able to carry the Siegfried brand and the associated attitude to life even further into the world than we ever dreamed possible.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category: News
Tags: Diageo, Raphael Vollmar and Gerald Koenen, Rheinland Distillers, Siegfried Rheinland Dry Gin