Acht Grad plus

For students Volker Netzhammer and Patrick Braun, the ideal party drink needed to be refreshing as well as alcoholic, so the classic wine spritzer was always their drink of choice. Practical in theory, perhaps not quite so simple in practice. According to the two founders of Acht Grad plus the bar was always so busy that mixing the chilled party favourite caused unwelcome queues. Something had to be done, especially since it was not just the guests’ spirits that suffered. The number of glasses lost to breakage was no longer sustainable.

The answer was obvious: a ready-mixed wine spritzer in a bottle made for parties. They wasted no time putting their idea into practice. After a short spell developing the recipe at the kitchen table in their shared flat, the first batch of their ready-mixed, 100% organic party spritzer was produced in 2008. As for whether their second product, the mulled wine Heißer Hirsch, will also have a positive effect on the winter tradition of gathering with friends remains to be seen.