Ulf Fuhrer with his product Zumwhol at D4 bar in Wellington.

‘Zumwohl’ doesn’t sound like something that originates in Wellington, but it turns out that Ulf Fuehrer (apparently a real name!) and his Aotearoa Distilleries Ltd company that makes the award-winning schnapps are based right here. Add that location to our love of public servants expressing opinions, our twitter addiction, our mutual admiration agreement with Public Address and the hope that the good people at Sputnik will throw some freebies our way, and we’re super happy to tell you about Zumwohl’s latest campaign.

Almost thirty years after New Zealand’s infamous snap election, a Wellington distiller is bringing old-fashioned fun and satire back to modern day politics.
Ulf Fuehrer, maker of traditional German schnapps Zumwohl, says one of his greatest passions in life, apart from schnapps, is politics.  Finally, he’s found a way to bring the two together.
“Alcohol and elections have always been an interesting mix.  The ‘84 snap election was effectively born of a whiskey bottle,” says Fuehrer.
“The image of a visibly tipsy Muldoon announcing the election is the best known and most parodied moment in our political history.  Some people still refer to it as the ‘schnapp election’.”

Recognising this year’s election wasn’t attracting a huge amount of public interest, Fuehrer has seized the opportunity by declaring the return of the schnapp election, albeit this time with a modern twist.

Fuehrer is giving away a bottle of Zumwohl every day of the campaign for the cleverest or funniest tweet about the election.  After just one week, the response has been much stronger than anticipated and entries have already been retweeted to more than 100,000 people around the country.

Fuehrer says Twitter suited his schnapp election well because it makes it simple for people to participate, and doesn’t require a lot of time or concentration.

“Twitter is the intellectual equivalent of a shot, so we saw it as a perfect fit for the schnapp election,” says Fuehrer.

Anyone can join in the schnapp election by following @zumwohlparty and using the #zumwohl hashtag. Just don’t be funnier than us, okay?