The World's Youngest Master Distiller, Benedikt's CIBD Journey
In 2024 the Chartered Institute of Brewers and Distillers confirmed what the awards shelf had been suggesting for years: the youngest Master Distiller in the world works at Blomendahl. Benedikt Blomendahl had been making wine and spirits independently since he was eighteen, already the world's youngest distiller and winemaker.
It started with a bottle called T-Rex
He bottled his first wine at nine years old and named it T-Rex. That is not a marketing story invented later, it is simply what happens when you grow up in a house where the cellar is part of the furniture and both parents are in the trade.
The family has farmed since 1185 and distilled under the Kohlhoff name since 1882. His father, FJ Blomendahl, qualified as a winemaker at Geisenheim in 1983 and as a Master Distiller in Berlin in 1985. Growing up around that is an apprenticeship whether you call it one or not.
The milestones along the way
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Fills his first 55 litre whisky barrel |
| 2020 | Graduates as a distiller, running 800 bottle production runs |
| 2019 to 2022 | Co-develops gin recipes that take Double Gold and Platinum |
| 2020 | Michelangelo Gold for the Blomendahl Apple Liqueur |
| 2024 | Confirmed by the CIBD as the world's youngest Master Distiller |
| 2025 | Qualifies as a Chartered Global Management Accountant |
Why the qualification matters
Anyone can call themselves a distiller. The Chartered Institute of Brewers and Distillers is the profession's international examining body, and its Master Distiller level is the senior technical qualification in the field. It tests the science as well as the craft: fermentation, distillation theory, maturation, quality control and the regulatory frame around all of it.
For clients that matters in a practical way. When we develop a recipe for a brand, the person making the cuts is examined at the top of the profession, and the same standard is applied to your product as to ours. Several brands we have made have gone on to beat our own labels in the same competition, which is rather the point.
Two generations in one stillhouse
Father and son now share the stills. Four decades of German tradition alongside a new generation's curiosity, on two continents. FJ brings the winemaking and the forty years; Benedikt brings the CIBD qualification and, since 2025, a chartered accountant's reading of a balance sheet.
See the full award record, or talk to us about your own brand.