Pearl in Sandbox – Scheibel Prune Brandy
There are liqueurs out there meant for mixing and then there are high-quality fruit brandies which are almost to exquisite too be mixed. In this case, Scheibel introduced a new “Alte Zeit” brandy with plum flavour. Of course, I was eager to try it and I also came up with a suitable drink. On top of that, I also got the chance to try two whiskies from Scheibel.
Scheibel use wild plums in their Prune Brandy which they make according to an old family recipe. They distil them on their wood-fired “Alte Zeit” stills with a capacity of 320 l. Furthermore, they use neutral alcohol, cognac, plum extract and spices. In the end, the liqueur is bottled at 35 % ABV.
Marzipan and spices
The brandy starts off with prominent stone notes. After a while the plum taste becomes noticeable and is accompanied by spices: Mainly cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom. The liqueur also reminds me of cherry flavoured sweets and Amarena cherries. All in all, the Prune Brandy is complex, which makes it perfect over ice.
An Artist’s Special / Blood & Sand crossover
Right from the start, I knew that I wanted to combine the Prune Brandy, with whisky. Luckily, I got two samples of Scheibel’s Emill Whisky on hand. Both are distilled twice on hand-hammered pot-stills and aged in the Scheibel Muehle. The Feinwerk is aged on two storeys finished in portwine barrels and the Stockwerk aged on four storeys. For the drink, I added Amontillado sherry and red vermouth from Gölles. However, I needed a bit of simple syrup to balance out the drink.
3 cl Scheibel Alte Zeit Plum Brandy
1,5 cl Fernando de Castilla Amontillado Sherry
1,5 cl Gölles Alfred Rosso Vermouth
3 cl Lemon Juice
0,75 cl Simple Syrup
Garnish: Orange Wheel;
Song: Júníus Meyvant – Pearl in Sandbox;
The “Pearl in Sandbox” starts with a combination of whisky and plum notes. On top of that, the marzipan flavours shine through, accompanied by typical sherry flavours. The vermouth takes the drink in a smoother direction with additional spices. Furthermore, the plum liqueur and the Emill Single Malt work together perfectly. This way the drink clearly reminds me of the Artist’s Special, but with notes of darker fruits more suitable for winter.
*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 liqueur was provided by Scheibel.
