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THE FOUNDERS

ASBACH URALT

Hugo Asbach was born in Cologne in 1868. His father
was a carpenter but Hugo wanted to do something
different so in 1892 he started distilling brandy in
Rudesheim. He wanted to make his German brandy
as good as cognac. He regularly visited Cognac to
learn the techniques and his business thrived.

In 1905 he bought two small cognac houses,
amalgamated them and renamed them Asbach & Co.
He kept the two businesses separate and refused to
call his German brandy Cognac. Many German
distillers did not have his scruples and openly called
their brandy Cognac. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles
meant that Germans had to give up their French
properties. They also had to stop calling their brandy
Cognac. At least this last ruling did not affect Hugo.

JUSTERINI AND BROOKS

Giacomo Justerini worked for his uncle at his
successful distillery at Bologna. In 1749 he fell in love with an Italian soprano and
followed her to London. She was not a success in London and Giacomo realised he
would need employment if he was to
keep the wolf from the door. With the
help from George Johnson who financed
the operation he purchased premises in
Pall Mall and started making liqueurs,
just as he had in Italy. This was still
1749.

One of his customers was Prince George
who became king in 1760. That year the
company received the first of its many
Royal Warrants. Once he had received
the Royal Warrant Giacomo sold the
business for a large profit and returned
to Italy.

Alfred Brooks bought the business in
1831 and renamed it Justerini and
Brooks. Charles Dickens was one of his
customers. The company started
blending whisky towards the end of the
19th century. The famous J & B Rare

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