FJ Blomendahl
Master Distiller. Winemaker. Serial entrepreneur.
Franz-Josef Blomendahl's love for creating wine and spirits lies in the family for many generations, it began as a boy, watching his grandfather distill.
Born on 11 June. As a boy he watches his grandfather at the still, the spark that comes before the classroom.
At 18, starts selling wine as his first business.
Graduates as winemaker at the University of Geisenheim, Germany's foremost wine university.
Qualifies as Master Distiller in Berlin. A career across France, Germany, Spain and Italy follows: whisky, cognac, calvados, grappa, gin, fruit liqueurs, and German vodka produced for the Russian market.
Lectures at hotel and beverage schools for 9 years; educates hundreds of students; trains sommeliers and wine & spirit traders across Europe, including cask evaluation, tasting maturing spirit straight from the wood. Supplies and services hundreds of bars and restaurants in Berlin, from beverage distribution to complete bar installations, and runs multiple liquor outlets of his own.
Acquires a 100-year-old distillery and takes over Kohlhoff, Weine und Liköre (est. 1882), expanding to five franchise retail outlets within a few years and building Alter Schwede past 30,000 bottles a year. His contract bottling plant fills up to 24,000 bottles of vodka a day for the Russian market and major German brands (1993–2003).
The year his son is born, FJ founds the Ben Hur Club and stages the first spectacular chariot race of the 20th century, reviving the sport of antiquity as his passion. That's him on the rum label, driving the quadriga.
Moves the family to South Africa and founds Blomendahl Vineyards in Elgin, scaling from 5 barrels of wine (2005) to 1,000 barrels by 2008 and peak production of 1 million bottles a year (2008–2012).
Installs a 1000L custom Kothe copper still on the farm, grappa and brandy production begins in the Cape.
Designs and installs a premium single malt whisky distillery (2500L Carl copper potstill plus gin still) for partner Lübbehusen Malt Destill in Emstek, Germany, including training and the full mashing and fermentation production flow. Today it fills two 200L barrels of single malt a day.
His recipes sweep the awards: Best Vodka Trophy (Michelangelo) for Blomendahl Vodka, and Platinum for a gin recipe developed in his stillhouse, in its very first year.
40+ years of international experience, and a son who's chasing (and sometimes beating) his medal count. All along, he was training and teaching Benedikt as much as possible; now he's steadily passing it all on.
