Dirk Verpoorten and the Bonn idea behind Seven Spirits
Seven Spirits goes back to Dirk Verpoorten, who founded the company in Bonn in 2007. The name stands for a clear program: artisanally produced spirits and wines with character, distributed with the ambition of bringing quality into the glass even outside of large distillery corporations. Based in the Bonn district of Beuel — Königswinterer Straße 552 — Seven Spirits acts as a specialist for what the trade likes to call "fine spirits": products behind which there is a story, not a marketing department.
What drives Verpoorten is most clearly shown by his flagship HirschRudel: the herbal liqueur is not a laboratory development, but the direct result of a family discovery. In an old suitcase from the estate of his grandmother Elly, Dirk Verpoorten came across a yellowed poetry album — neatly recorded inside: a herbal liqueur recipe made from 31 wild herbs that Elly had once written down in Straubing.
From family recipe to limited small quantities
The story behind the recipe goes back a long way. As a young girl, Elly Verpoorten collected wild herbs in the forest and discovered a herd of red deer grazing at the edge of a forest clearing. The place fascinated her so much that she kept returning to it — and pressed the collected herbs into her poetry album as a souvenir. After the war, Elly prepared a liqueur according to this recipe for the first time in Straubing on the occasion of a family anniversary. The name and ingredients came directly from the saved album.
Two generations later, Dirk Verpoorten brought the recipe into the 21st century. Since 2014, HirschRudel has been bottled by hand in Bonn and delivered in limited small quantities to specialist retailers and the catering industry. Each bottle bears an individual number — a conscious signal against mass production. The bottle itself is sealed with a natural cork into which a tin stag is embossed; a small booklet about the history is included.
31 wild herbs, clear signature, broad range
The heart of Seven Spirits remains the HirschRudel herbal liqueur with 35% ABV, the recipe for which is based on 31 wild herbs — including lovage root, gentian, valerian root, centaury, angelica root, coriander, and speedwell herb. The exact mixing ratio remains strictly secret to this day. On the nose, the deep brown liqueur shows coffee, dark chocolate, anise, and caramel; on the palate, vanilla, malty sweetness, and traces of spice follow, while the finish brings roasted nuts and caramel. In addition to its own herbal liqueur, Seven Spirits distributes selected international premium spirits — from tequila and agricole rhum to Angostura products — and thus sees itself as a curator for distillates with substance, not as a full-range supplier.
