"Noble be the drop, soothing and good."

 

The Ox Distillery

The distillery in the inn "Zum Ochsen" Wenighösbach was founded and built in the summer of 1921 by the great-grandfather Gregor Stenger and started operation in October 1921 as an agricultural compensation distillery.

In April 1954 Gregor Stenger passed away and the distillery was taken over by his son, grandfather Jakob Stenger. Latter ran the distillery until his untimely death in 1967. 

From 1967 to 1970, the distillery was run by his uncle until 1970, when Dieter Stenger, back then only 17 years old, was declared of age and took over the distillery.

With him, a new era dawned at the Ochsen distillery. In addition to the well-known fruit brandies such as pear, plum, potato and Obstler, Dieter Stenger distilled new noble brandies such as French sour cherries from the village, sloes, hazelnut, raspberry, quince, etc.

In 1990 he bought a new distillery, which was no longer built in the oxen barn, but in the skilled butcher’s slaughterhouse. In 1998, after only 8 years in the slaughterhouse, he decided to have a new distillery planned according to his ideas by the Hans Adrian company and to have it built in the middle of his restaurant.

Thus, he was able to introduce the art of distilling schnapps to the general population in hundreds of show distilling evenings.

In 2013, my father and I, Marco Stenger, the current owner of The OX Distillery distilled our first The OX Single Malt Whisky and our first The OX Suburban Dry Gin.

Although I was born and raised in a distillery and learned and was taught the art of distilling from scratch by my father, the world of whisky fascinated me so much that the fascination became a passion.

Distilling whisky and aging it in wooden barrels constantly drives me to create something new. 

 

OX brandies

Selected fully ripe plums, mirabelles, sour cherries and much more come into our in-house distillery. Here we still distill according to old tradition on a water bath with gas firing. 

Since we obtain our fruit mainly from fruit growers in the region, we have the optimal influence on the ripeness and selection of the fruit, because only from the best fruit you can distill noble brandies. 

During the distilling process itself, we separate the good from the bad with a great deal of tact and trained sense. Only the scarce heart guarantees the highest pleasure and clarity of aromas. This is what we stand for with our name. 

 

The OX Suburban Dry Gin

The OX Suburban Dry Gin 45% Vol. is truly something for scent lovers, after all, this German gin was created in the tranquil suburb of Wenighösbach just outside Aschaffenburg by the Stengers, who have 50 years of distilling experience. 

Their specialty: combining taste and the art of distilling. And they also seem to have succeeded with their not everyday mainstream gin.

How? Of course, they don't reveal it in its entirety, but the Stengers are not people who hide behind secret recipes and too much secrecy. And so they reveal all their botanicals and that they are distilled in their specialty copper still. 

This great virtuosity comes from their extraordinary sense of smell, which is also evident in The OX Suburban Dry Gin. Here, they chose a relatively small number of botanicals to dress up their gin into a true aroma and flavor wonder.

The OX Gin skillfully plays with the different ingredients and lets the strong dominance and fresh acidity of Laos root and ginger root, as well as lemon peel in harmony with more delicate nuances of rose petals, lavender and cassia cinnamon meet with spicier tones such as Guatemala cardamom and juniper, which thanks to their flair work harmoniously, balanced and full-bodied.