The Spirited News: Best of 2020
To keep up with traditions, I am presenting you with the ten best rated spirits on my blog this year. For me personally it was the year of the eau de vie. I never before tasted as many fruit spirits. On top of that, the majority were high quality ones. This is also represented in the top ten: Of the ten spirits all but one are eau de vies! Let us see what the outsider in this ranking is.
Like a rough diamond
Well, if you know me at all, it does not come as a surprise that this whole list is dominated by citrus eau de vies. So, the first one is the Zott Pomeranze. This bitter orange eau de vie comes at 51 % ABV and that alone should give you a hint of the complexity of this spirit. Nevertheless, it also should be a warning, because the essential oils in combination with the higher ABV can figuratively numb your senses. If you tread carefully, you are rewarded with beautiful tangerine notes that are excellent in cocktails!
Rare plum number one
Curiously, besides a lot of citrus eau de vies there are three plum eau de vies in my top ten this year. I guess this is a sign that after a few not so good years plums are back! The first one in the top ten is the Greengage eau de vie from Capreolus Distillery. It was my favourite amongst the three different plum varieties Barney Wilczak distils. I especially enjoyed the combination of refined wild plum notes, hints of apricots and a whiff of citrus.
Not so rare plum
“Hauszwetschgen” are an old cultivated plum variety which right now can be found in some orchards. Unfortunately, they also become rarer and rarer. Georg Hiebl another of my favourite distillers preserves their taste in liquid form with his Hauszwetschge Eau de Vie. The eau de vie is elegant and at the same time quite complex. Apart from the multiple plum notes you can taste some cinnamon and flowers. I even think that I can taste a kind of house style of the distillery after tasting a few different spirits.
Rare plum number two
So, the second rare plum, might even be the rarest of them all! It grows slowly, only carries fruits every few years and is even harder to find. The Krete which Matthias Sievert managed to get his hands on, however is well worth all that effort. The resulting eau de vie reflects all that a plum eau de vie can be. Powerful fruit flavours, hints of flowers and just the right amount of stone notes. If you are not a fan of plum eau de vies, the Krete can even be a bit overwhelming. Nevertheless, it is an excellent eau de vie!
Quince notes and a few other fruits
Quinces are very labour-intensive during eau de vie production. Yet, if you do it right, they also deliver a high reward. An excellent example of quince eau de vie comes from the Capreolus Distillery. Besides a powerful quince note you can find a lot of perfumed notes in the taste accompanied by a whole bouquet of other fruits. It is hard to come by here in Germany, but it is well worth checking out if you like quinces.
On chestnut barrels and apples
We are entering the top five with another eau de vie from Barney namely his Chestnut Barrel Aged Apple Eau de Vie. Usually, I prefer unaged eau de vies, because similar to tequila the fruity component tends to get lost with barrel ageing. Yet, this is not the case with this spirit distilled from Harry Masters Jersey apples. Instead of just rounding off the edges, the chestnut barrel adds another layer of complexity. The resulting eau de vie tastes of various apple flavours and spices with a pleasant buttery note.
Is it gin or a citrus eau de vie?
Next, I was most pleasantly surprised by the Mühle 4 Zitronatzitronen Eau de Vie! This eau de vie distilled from macerated organic Cedros delivers far more than just citrus notes. You can find pine needles, lavender and even Szechuan pepper in the taste. In fact, the spice notes are so prominent that you could almost mistake this spirit for a gin in a blind tasting. Needless to say, that the Cedro eau de vie also works wonders in cocktails!
Yes, a barrel aged gin!
I guess it speaks for itself that the only other spirit in my top ten of 2020 is a barrel aged gin. A lot of people dislike barrel aged versions of everybody’s favourite spirit. However, while Barney’s regular gin, the Garden Swift, is already excellent, the chestnut barrel aged version just blew me away! When sipping the Hart & Dart Gin you can imagine yourself walking across and ancient bazaar with all its herbs and spices.
The year of the blood oranges
Since blood oranges are in vogue with eau de vie distillers, I thought I try a few of them to see which one is best. The not so surprising result was that the Spiritus Rex Bloody O which is based on the infamous Stählemühle Blutorange probably is the best one out there right now. This means it also deserves the second place in this year’s top ten spirit ranking. You can just taste the full flavour spectrum of a fresh blood orange without being boring or one-dimensional. Just the right amount of tannins from the white pith is beautifully interlaced with the alcohol.
Tardivo di Ciaculli
You might ask if there even can be a better spirit or eau de vie out there than the Spiritus Rex blood orange eau de vie? Well, yes and it comes with probably the most beautiful name every given to an eau de vie. The Tardivo di Ciaculli, named after the variety used, macerates and is then distilled from Sicilian mandarins. It is very hard to describe the level of perfection of this eau de vie. Similar to the blood orange eau de vie you can taste the whole fruit in just the tiniest sip. Yet, the drinking experience is more dense and complex without distracting from the mandarin flavour. I guess you can only comprehend this by trying the Matthias’ mandarin eau de vie yourself!
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The spirits were provided by Capreolus, Mühle 4, Spiritus Rex and Zott.
