The City of Sails – Auckland is the most logical place to present the new generation of wines and spirits created by yachtsmen for yachtsmen. The RNZYS is the centre of yachting not only in New Zealand, but also one of the most prestigious yacht clubs in the world, and is therefore a perfect place to launch such new “vogue” of consuming a more sophisticated version of traditionally preferred spirits in the sailing communities.
The Kirichuk family (members of the RNZYS since 2005) thanks the RNZYS Commodore Steve Mair and General Manager Hayden Porter for the support of the idea to present and supply the Commodore’s Reserve Spiced Rum & Dry Gin designed for yachtsmen to the Squadron members in the beginning of the new sailing season 2016.
Puhoi Organic Distillery is the first Distillery to create alcoholic beverages designed especially for yachtsmen. The idea of such alcohol was born in the mid-1980s by Dr Iryna Kirichuk (MD). At that time Iryna was the sports doctor looking after the USSR Olympic Sailing team at the Black Sea base in Odessa, Ukraine.
Since then and until now we were unable to come across a yachtsman (as well as a yachtswoman) who do not consume alcohol. Until now there were no special alcoholic beverages designed especially for the sailing community.
The available mainstream alcoholic beverages are commonly known to generate hangover and other negative side effects, which have a major bad impact on the sports performance. On the other hand, simply rejecting alcoholic beverages is not an answer because alcohol remains the best available stress relief. Sailing is one of the most stressful sports. Therefore the sailors do need such stress relief after long hours on the water, and no doctor or coach can stop the consumption of alcoholic beverages among sailing teams.
Dr Iryna Kirichuk came up with a genius solution: since there is no way to halt the consumption of alcoholic beverages with harmful effects, the alcoholic beverages themselves need to be redesigned so that they are as harmless as possible.
At that time the USSR was using an exclusive “secret weapon” to maximize the peak performance of cosmonauts and Olympic teams – Natural Adaptogens (bioactive and vitally important sources providing Strength, Stamina and Stress Relief) sourced from herbs, fruits and berries. The scientific method of obtaining Natural Adaptogens from the plant material employs alcohol, since alcohol was scientifically proved to be the best extractor, carrier and preservative.
This aspect was used by Dr Iryna as the basis for her formulations designed to be infused in fine wines and spirits. As the result, Dr Iryna’s wards benefited from the combination of the best stress relief infused with the daily dosage of Natural Adaptogens. This experiment satisfied everyone – the coaches, the doctor and the “guinea pigs” – the Olympic Sailing Team. It is important to note that unlike the notorious doping drugs, the Adaptogenic formulations are perfectly legal and have no negative side effects.
And this is how ‘the Spirits of the Future’ were created.
After moving to New Zealand, Dr Kirichuk used her unique experience and skills for her husband’s regattas twice. This “secret weapon” – the combination of a high quality spirit infused with Adaptogenic formulation helped the Master Distiller Alex Kirichuk to win bronze in 2009 and silver in 2011 at the Dragon Class Nationals.
In 2015 the Kirichuk family established the Puhoi Organic Distillery located on the family estate and focused on handcrafting Functional Foods & Beverages based on Dr Iryna Kirichuk’s Adaptogenic formulations. Puhoi Organic Distillery is the home of ‘the Spirits of the Future’.
We are proud that the Puhoi Organic Distillery was chosen by the RNZYS to support the Squadron’s endeavours in launching the new tradition – supplying ‘the Spirits of the Future’ to the members in order to get their spirits up!
