Nestled in the idyllic Mecklenburgische Seenplatte and next to the Müritz National Park, the Old Well Distillery is located in a refurbished well house where the cabin-sized distillery shines radiately surrounded by lakes, forests, and horses.
In the late 19th century, Wilhelm Christian Theodor Gadau, said to be descended from French Huguenots who settled in the Braunschweig area in 1685, joined forces with several local farmers to establish a distillery for the region. As a master distiller, Gadau enjoyed a profitable period during which he was able to provide his second son, Karl, with the capital to start a carpentry business in Wuppertal. The First World War put an end to the distillery, as the parts were dismantled and shipped back to France as reparations. This ended the distilling chapter in the Gadau family in 1918, that is until 2020.
Karl fathered three daughters, and Anne Elisabeth gave birth to Erika Renate in Wuppertal in 1938. As a very young girl, Erika narrowly escaped a direct attack by British fighter planes on a train station in Hesse in 1944. During the Cold War, she emigrated to the United States and became an acclaimed interpreter, interpreting conversations between Chancellor Kohl and President Bush (Sr.).
Around this time, she gave birth to her second son, Alex Remzi. Remzi began his career in America as an engineer, among other things, seemingly always surrounded by a curious bunch of artist and musician friends. When he didn't see an inspiring future for himself in America, he packed his bags and left the country with the important qualities he had learned from ambitious friends who had opened their own bars and boutiques in Washington DC. He understood that you have to take the first step to make the world a better place.
That's how 8MM Bar was born. Remzi had his roots in Germany, and this is where he would later make a name for himself. The success of the bar gave him the opportunity to go a step further and think sustainably, albeit unconventionally. The bar lived on music, so why not do something to ensure that good music continued to exist? In 2006, the music label 8MM Musik was launched to encourage his friends' bands to do more than just demos. With the label, 8MM began releasing albums. Remzi, who claims to be "not much of a salesman," found that the only way to advertise was to let people see and hear the quality for themselves. Suddenly Remzi was putting on shows to promote the releases and booking small tours. This, in turn, helped bring 8MM international attention and exposure to international artists. In 2015, the Berlin-based music and arts festival Synästhesie® was born.
Anthony Bourdain tries Melloch on Parts Unknown
Across the Atlantic, in DC, inspired by two old friends, Remzi was intoxicated by the rebirth of cocktail culture and cocktail bars that did everything differently than what he had learned when he was a bartender in the late 90s. The rediscovery of the art of cocktails, which emphasizes the senses, patience and precision over quantity and speed. This sparked his interest in making spirits and he set out to learn how it was done.
Two developments followed: first, the opening of his cocktail bar, NEU! (now Dream Baby Dream Bar), named after his biggest musical influences (see the Krautrock band NEU!), and second, the creation of his own amaro, Melloch. Remzi first learned the craft of making liqueur and bottling and labeling by hand. He then opened the distillery in 2020 along with the box-making workshop, a place where products are made by hand from start to finish, to be touched, tasted and felt. He says, "I find the process very reflective; it summarizes everything I've done. "
And Remzi has taken that approach quite literally: He designed and built his distillery by hand, concocted his own recipes, bottled and labeled them, and even built the crates they came in. The cottage-sized facility is a charming one-man spectacle. Across generations and continents, it has come full circle. In his adopted home of Mecklenburg, Remzi has the perfect place to bring it all together. He says his goal is to make the distillery self-sufficient and sustainable, while creating an artistic palette of flavors, textures and fragrances to work with.
Although distilling isn't new to his family, Re
mzi picked up his skills on his own. Thanks to his training in cocktail making and engineering, it was natural for him to learn the art of whiskey making from grain to spirit in Louisville, Kentucky. He applied those skills to the creation of two new products he enjoys himself: Old Well Gin and its namesake Remzi's Absinth.
This is just the beginning of Old Well Distillery. He has just planted an orchard. At the same time, the 8MM Bar and Festival continue.
Handcrafted
Powered by two beautiful copper Holstein stills, Old Well focuses on premium small batch Gin, Absinthe, and Bitters. The distillery itself was renovated by hand by distiller Alex ‘Olli’ Remzi to ensure it that it met his specifications. Remzi comes from an old distilling family and is the great great grandson of Brennmeister of Calvörde.
Community
Remzi is also know for his contribution to the Berlin underground music scene, being the founder of 8MM Bar and Synästhesie Festival. Keeping with his commitment to maintaining a local, hand crafted and organic music scene, the Old Well distillery also produces Melloch, with the proceeds being dedicated to supporting, producing, and releasing exceptional non-commercially motivated recordings.
Sustainability
Old Well Distillery is dedicated to minimising our impact on the environment. Geothermal heating ensures comfort for our overnight visitors year around. We set our eyes on the next goal of powering the distillery entirely by locally sourced renewable energy by 2022.
Likewise, we offer our clients the opportunity to act sustainably via our bottle buy-back program. Bottles in good condition can be returned locally to the distillery or at the 8MM Bar in Berlin. 50 cents will be credited to next purchase (or 40 cents cash back). The bottles are then thoroughly cleansed and inspected before returning to circulation.
