Eau de Vie

I figure it might be fun to compile a list of eau de vie producers, where they are, what they do, and any other information that might be pertinent (visiting hours and the like). I had a friend bring back some things from Jean Paul Mette in Ribeauville: Muscat, Gewurztraminer VT, Hazelnut, Sloe “Hors d’Age”, Mirabelle, Apricot “Reserve Exceptionelle” and Holly Berry. Ever one of them were interesting and remarkably well made.

Mette makes more than 100 things - most of which don’t make it out of France. They make both east coast and west coast importation - Charles Neal (naturally, that guy has a great book) on the west coast and Michael Corso on the east coast.

He also visited Distillery Spiral in Katzenthal, which is run by an ex-Mette employee. They’re tiny and as far as I can find out are barely commercial. They make five things: lemon thyme, a gin, alisier (service tree), apricot-rosemary and strawberry-szechuan peppercorn. These are at 43%, but the cuts here must be brutal - they’re incredibly delicate and the empty glass might have well been freshly washed - there’s no trace of haze or anything.

More later - Rochelt and Reisetbauer.

Thanks,

Zachary

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Reisetbauer
Dme Brana

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Strawberry-szechuan peppercorn… yeah I would buy that.

Just last week I rediscovered a few bottles of Mette that I must have had open for 15 years or so. Still quite good.

I keep a couple of bottles of Rochelt around. I can sort of understand the price on the basis of the obscene volumes of high quality fruit that goes into them but the raspberry, elderberry, and a few others are pretty hard for me to pull the trigger on.

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Clear Creek Distillery in Oregon makes some very good stuff.

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Peach Street distillery in Palisade Colorado makes some spectacular ones. I like their pear.

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Koval here in Chicago

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Big +1 on Reisetbauer.

Didn’t know Brana made eau-de-vie.

Best one I’ve ever had was an orange eau-de-vie that I bought at a shop in Napoli. Long ago gave up trying to find a bottle domestically, don’t even know the name any more.

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Some of those limoncello/orangello/mandarino on the Amalfi coast can be quite heavenly. Best of all- the tangerine based one from Positano.

These days, it’s Poire Williams that I’m checking out. Ordered a couple, haven’t yet tried them. Will be following this thread for tips.

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OK, so let’s jump to Austria. In Axberg (west of Linz) is Hans Reisetbauer. Some very good stuff here, and brought in by Skurnik. Lots of the usual suspects - cherry, apricot, raspberry… but also carrot (which smells exactly like you’d think it does), rowanberry and ginger which is the best thing in the world if you have a sore throat. Also these days some whisky and gin and vodka. Here we start to get into the hidden harmonics of fruit brandies. His ginger for example is not only warm and spicy like you’d expect, but also has a radiant lemony aura about it. In my mind, good producers of fruit brandies make stuff that tastes like the fruit it comes from. Great producers discover what goes on underneath all the fruit in hidden frequencies.

About 3 1/2 hours west of Reisetbauer is (in my mind) the king of fruit brandy producers, Rochelt. They’re in Fritzens, east of Innsbruck and make expensive magic out of great fruit. They’re brought in by Nicolas Palazzi. Bottles and stoppers are distinctive, but we’re talking $1 a milliliter here. They too make a range of things - the usual apple, pear, raspberry, cherry, Muscat and Gewurztraminer… but also blackcurrant, wild raspberry, orange, and then some reserve things - 2006 Wachau Apricot aged 15 years in glass at 120 proof? Watch out. They like extended aging in big glass jars and you should seek this stuff out at a bar and have a glass.

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My favorite to date is Cazottes (with thanks to Thor Iverson who introduced me to them).

Just their eau de vie though, I’m not a fan of their sweet offerings.

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This x10000 [cheers.gif] [cheers.gif] [cheers.gif]

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Fauchon is no longer, I fear. I’m pretty sure that’s a Miclo bottle. Miclo’s Coeur de Chauffe range is really good. I have friends who admire Mette, and Windholtz too, but I’m a bit underwhelmed. Reisetbauer is pretty amazing but Capovilla may best of all. I will look for Rochelt.

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I would love to try quince eau de vie. I really like the taste of quince. Sadly I can only find it on winesearcher for $265 for a 375ml, so maybe I’ll wait till I go to Europe. [swearing.gif]

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