Blossom Roses – Engel Marille

I guess it is not a secret, that apricots are my favourite eau de vie flavour. So I am always keen on trying new bottlings. Especially, when they come from one of my favorite distillers Manuel Engel. For a drink, I was inspired by the floral flavours of the eau de vie and paired it with bergamot infused pisco, as well as Manuel’s vermouth.

Manuel uses apricots from his relatives in the Wachau region of Austria for his apricot eau de vie. They mash the fruit there and Manuel collects the mash after fermentation has finished. He distils it on his traditional Austrian still and bottles it after a resting period of around three months at 42 % ABV.

Beautiful fruit and rose notes

The apricot eau de vie Engel starts off with a clear fruit note and a rather rare combination of fresh apricots and apricot jam. Next, you can find a certain vanilla component of the flavour, accompanied by rose petals. In the end, the taste finishes with notes of fresh cut grass.

A play on an old creation

I decided to play on the floral notes of the apricot eau de vie with a cocktail. Similar to my drink Artificial Roses I went for a base spirit, vermouth and eau de vie combination. This time however, I used Manuel’s own vermouth which uses some lemon balm eau de vie and other herbs from his own herb garden. Since, the Engel vermouth has a distinct bitterness, I dialed it down a bit and instead added a splash of cold water. Furthermore, I had some pisco which I infused with the leftovers of my bergamot oleo saccharum.

*Make a bittering agent using Swedish herbs and unaged spirit – infuse crushed almonds in eau de vie cuvée (apple and pears) – infuse bergamot peel in eau de vie cuvée – mix bittering agent and infusions to your liking

The “Blossom Roses” starts with a combination of bergamot flavours with apricots and a touch of wine. Yet, the vermouth still adds a noticeable bitterness and wormwood note to the taste. All in all, the drink is less smooth than the list of ingredients might suggest, but it is still a very interesting sipper. Obviously, if you use another vermouth things would look a bit different.

*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 and vermouth was provided by the Engel Naturbrennerei.