Ultra-Beast – Edelhof 1514 Pomeranze
Since we visited Passau, I wanted to study bitter orange spirits a bit more. Therefore, I had the chance to review the excellent Edelhof 1514 Pomeranze Eau de Vie. On top of that, I created a version of a Danish cocktail using aquavit and a very special Pedro Ximenez sherry.
The Edelhof 1514 Pomeranze is distilled from Majorcan bitter oranges of the Naranja Argaria variety. After the maceration of the oranges, Edelhof 1514 carefully distil the fruit. Next, the spirit is bottled without filtration at an ABV of 40,5 %. The eau de vie also received a Grand Gold medal at the International Spirit Awards.
Mandarins and bitter oranges
The Pomeranze eau de vie starts off with a clear bitter orange note. Additionally, you can find some orange flower flavours as well as a slight hint of vanilla in the taste. Furthermore, you also taste a slight bitterness and white pith notes. Since mandarins and bitter oranges are closely related, the eau de vie also reminds me of them. All in all, the eau de vie is pleasant and quite complex.
A fruity beast
As mentioned above, I took inspiration from “The Best” cocktail I found on Kindred Cocktails. This combination of aquavit and Pedro Ximenez sherry seemed like a great fit for the bitter orange eau de vie. Obviously, any high-quality PX sherry will do here. However, since I wanted to try the Gonzalez Byass NOE for quite some time, I used this one. Furthermore, this way I had the chance to use the Phenomenal Tonic Syrup as a sweetener in the cocktail. Yet, instead of regular aquavit, I used blueberry infused aquavit and replaced the orange bitters with the citrus eau de vie.
1,5 cl Edelhof 1514 Bitter Orange Eau de Vie
1,5 cl Gonzalez Byass NOE Pedro Ximenez Sherry
1,5 cl Phenomenal Tonic Syrup
Stir first four ingredients over ice – strain – chilled Double Old-Fashioned glass over ice cubes – top off with soda water;
Garnish: Dried Bitter Orange Wheel;
Song: Hayden Calnin – Ultra Beast;
The drink delivers interesting flavour combinations of caraway seeds, dried fruit notes and some citrus flavours. The bitterness of the tonic syrup is also noticeable, but the healthy dash of soda water balances out the drink. On top of that, the Pomeranze eau de vie manages to shine through nicely. Usually, this would be an excellent drink for summer days, but the sherry takes the whole highball in a different direction.
*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 eau de vie was provided by Edelhof 1514.
