Stock Spirits Group is a multinational spirits producer focused on markets in central and eastern Europe. The company was born in Trieste—then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire—in 1884 with the founding of the Camis & Stock “steam distillery” by Lionello Stock (1866–1948), a Croatian Jew, and Carlo Camis. The company’s flagship product was a brandy known as Stock Cognac Medicinal. Camis left the firm in 1906, while Stock proceeded to turn the brandy into a bestseller throughout the empire. Following World War I and the empire’s collapse, Trieste, and Stock himself, became Italian. Nonetheless, he acquired distilleries at Božkov in Czechoslovakia and Požega in Croatia as well as in other parts of the former empire. The bitter herbal liqueur Fernet Stock began production at the Božkov distillery in 1927; it remains one of the most popular spirits in what is now the Czech Republic.
Because it was deemed Jewish property, the Božkov distillery was seized by the Nazis during World War II. It was briefly returned to Stock family control after the war, only to be nationalized by the newly formed Communist government the following year. In 1993, the distillery was once again acquired by the Stock company in Trieste. By then, the company offered a wide array of brands in Italy—Stock (spirits, liqueurs, and vermouths), Grappa Julia, Gran Gala (a curaçao), Keglevich (vodkas and fruit brandies)—and throughout central Europe.
A series of mergers and acquisitions beginning in 1995 led to the formation of the Stock Spirits Group in 2008. Based in the United Kingdom, the company owns and operates production facilities in Poland and Germany in addition to the original Božkov distillery. (The Trieste office and distillery were closed in 2009 and 2012, respectively.) With an extensive portfolio that includes a wide range of vodkas and liqueurs as well as rum and other spirits, Stock is the leading spirits producer in both Poland and the Czech Republic.
Archivio Stock S.p.a. https://www.inheritage.it/it/scheda/archivio-stock-s-p-a-.htm (accessed March 12, 2021).
Stock Spirits Group. Historical Reports.https://www.stockspirits.com/investors/resultsreportspresentations/historical_reports.aspx.
By: David Mahoney