Beekeeper – Spiritus Rex Cydonia

Sometimes you taste a spirit and it completely redefines how you look upon the spirits category. This is exactly what happened when I tried the Spiritus Rex Cydonia Quince eau de vie! Yes, I have tried other great quince eau de vies before. Yet, the one distilled by Matthias Sievert can only be called what it is – exceptional! Since, the eau de vie has a lot of honey notes, I did the only logical thing and mixed up a Bee’s Knees variation.

For his Cydonia Quince eau de vie Matthias uses apple quinces he picks in late autumn within a 200 km radius. Before mashing, the quinces are scrubbed to remove their small hairs on the skin. Matthias crushes two thirds of the harvest and juices the other third. The juice is needed during fermentation, because the quinces themselves are too dry for regular fermentation. After distillation, the eau de vie rests for a few years and Matthias bottles it at the usual 42 % ABV.

Honey-glazed quinces

Simply put, this is the best quince eau de vie I ever had! Contrary to other quince eau de vies I had, the Spiritus Rex is not as floral or perfumed. Instead, it comes with a lot of honey notes. You can find a lot of flower and forest honey in the taste which brings up the illusion of sweetness. Apart from that, there also are some apple and pear notes in the back of the eau de vie. In conclusion, it is very hard to describe how complex this spirit is while at the same time staying true to its category.

Just a little extra

The pronounced honey notes of the Spiritus Rex Cydonia led me to mix up a Bee’s Knees variation. Basically, all I did was add a bit of quince eau de vie to the regular recipe. In terms of the gin, I chose Matthias’ JuniP Gin, because its citrus notes seemed to go well with all the honey in the drink. Furthermore, I mixed regular flower honey with forest honey to give the cocktail more complexity.

With its combination of spicy gin notes and sweet honey, the “Beekeeper” starts off like a regular Bee’s Knees. Yet, after a while the quince eau de vie makes its way to the front of your palate. The Spiritus Rex Cydonia nicely contributes to the complexity of the cocktail. Apart from that, the citrus notes also work very well with the rest of the flavours. Together with the lemon juice they keep the drink from being too sweet. In the end, this is an excellent way of appreciating this extraordinary eau de vie without hiding its character.

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. Additionally, the eau de vie was provided by Spiritus Rex.