Tohi Distillery

Tohi Distillery is an Estonian craft gin producer based in Kohila, Rapla County. The company was founded in 2017 and produces its spirits in the historic distillery building of Tohisoo manor, a structure dating from the mid-18th century. The brand describes itself as making handcrafted gins with character and a big heart, using Estonian spirit from the Moe distillery as a base. The core range includes Tohi Cloudberry Mist Nordic Dry Gin, Tohi London Dry Gin, Tohi Admiral's Reserve Navy Strength Gin, and Tohi Aronia Infused Gin. The Cloudberry Mist gin has received recognition at the World Gin Awards and was named Estonia's Best Craft Spirit in 2020. The distillery also operates a visitor centre offering tours, a gin shop, and event space rental. Tohi Distillery sells its products through its own online shop and physical gin shop, and its website is available in Estonian, English, Russian, and Swedish. The company operates as Tohi Distillery OÜ, a private limited company.

Tohi Distillery OÜ was founded in 2017 and acquired the historic distillery building of Tohisoo manor in Kohila, Rapla County. The building dates from the mid-18th century and had previously served as a vodka distillery, a leather tanning factory, and a leather goods workshop. The company began reconstructing the building, first renovating the production rooms on the ground floor and then the rest of the house. Only the walls and ceilings of the old structure could be reused. During construction, workers found an old container under the floor, likely a pressure or steam tank from the former vodka factory, which is now displayed on the Tohi Distillery terrace. The Tohisoo manor itself was likely established in the 17th century by the von Burdt family and belonged to German nobles until the 1919 land reform. Manors of that era had various buildings and production units, and one of the most profitable activities was vodka distillation. In 1794, there were 15 distilleries in the Tohisoo area producing 1,102 barrels (168,000 litres) of vodka annually, with Tohisoo's own contribution being 5,355 litres per year. In the second half of the 19th century, up to 90% of vodka production was exported to Russia. In the 1870s, modern spirit factories began replacing manor distilleries, greatly reducing their number. In 1923, brothers Salomon and Hirsch Šimšilevitš built a leather tanning factory in the Tohisoo distillery building, which operated until 1933. From 1933 to 1964, various leather tanning companies operated there with varying success, until 1964 when the Linda leather goods combine's Kohila workshop was established, producing suitcases, handbags, helmet linings, and similar items. At its peak, up to 150 women and a few men worked in the building. In 1991, employees of the leather goods company formed the joint-stock company Loone-Linda. The company became the full owner of all assets in 1994 when, in addition to previously acquired buildings, it also purchased equipment from RAS Linda. It produced approximately 1,000 medium-complexity bags per month. The last company to manufacture leather products at Tohisoo was Tricon Grupp OÜ, which ultimately went bankrupt in 2017. Tohi Distillery produces several gins. Tohi Cloudberry Mist Nordic Dry Gin is a distilled cloudberry gin using cloudberries, Estonian spirit from the Moe distillery, juniper berries, cardamom, and other ingredients. It has been recognised multiple times at the World Gin Awards and was chosen as Estonia's Best Craft Spirit in 2020. It was the winner of the Estonian Drink Festival 2019, a finalist at The Gin Guide Awards 2020, a bronze medalist at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2020, and a bronze medalist at the Nordic Spirits Awards 2020. The producer recommends serving it as a gin and tonic with ice and orange slices. Tohi London Dry Ginger & Sichuan Pepper is a distilled London Dry style gin with a recipe of 13 spices (cassia, ginger, angelica, juniper berry, Sichuan pepper, cardamom, and others) mixed with Estonian spirit. The recipe follows London Dry gin rules. It is suitable for gin cocktails or simply with quality tonic, plenty of ice, and a lemon slice. Tohi Aronia Infused Gin has black aronia berries combined with gin. The aronia berries are collected from Estonian gardens, and the juice is pressed out by foot, just like in small wineries in Europe. The mixture of berries, skins, and juice is then blended with a specially formulated gin and left to mature for half a year. No sugar or other artificial ingredients are added to the recipe. After that, the mixture is filtered and the ruby-red aronia gin is ready for bottling. For an aronia gin and tonic, put plenty of ice in a glass, add quality tonic, and garnish with an orange slice.

• 2020

  Cloudberry Mist gin named Estonia's Best Craft Spirit; finalist at The Gin Guide Awards; bronze at San Francisco World Spirits Competition and Nordic Spirits Awards.

• 2019

  Tohi Cloudberry Mist Nordic Dry Gin wins the Estonian Drink Festival.

• 2017

  Tohi Distillery OÜ founded and acquires the historic Tohisoo manor distillery building in Kohila.

Craft gin distillery with a visitor centre, emphasising local Estonian ingredients and artisanal production in a historic setting.

• Tohi Cloudberry Mist Nordic Dry Gin

  Distilled cloudberry gin with cloudberries, Estonian spirit from Moe distillery, juniper berries, cardamom, and other botanicals.

• Tohi London Dry Gin

  London Dry style gin with 13 spices including cassia, ginger, angelica, juniper, Sichuan pepper, and cardamom.

• Tohi Admiral's Reserve Navy Strength Gin

  Navy strength gin.

• Tohi Aronia Infused Gin

  Gin infused with black aronia berries, aged for six months, no added sugar or artificial ingredients.

1. 1Tohi Distillery official websitetohigin.com
2. 2Tohi Distillery - Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Tohi Distillery - Estonian Wikipediaet.wikipedia.org