A Mirabelle eau de vie tasting
Some time ago, I ran out of my regular bottle of Mirabelle eau de vie. So, similar to the recent apricot eau de vie tasting, I did a blind tasting of eight Mirabelle eau de vies. Join in to read about the quite different results.
In contrast to my recent apricot eau de vie tasting, I sampled the seven different spirits from Austria, Germany and France blind. As always, the results only reflect my personal opinion. Furthermore, I used the Spiegelau Authenis glass for tasting all the different eau de vie.
Bitter almonds, but balanced
The first spirit in the blind tasting was the Mühle 4 Mirabelle von Nancy. Peter Day ferments the plums without any additional yeast and leaves the stones in the mash. The bitter almond flavour of the stones certainly is noticeable in the final product. However, enough fruitiness supports the flavour so that it does not overwhelm the taste experience.
Marzipan and bitter almonds
The Mirabelle eau de vie from Wuchner (Maidli Gin) won a gold medal at the 2023 Craft Spirits Awards. When tasting it, I noticed a powerful stone flavour. The fruit flavour lingered on in the back. This way, the taste was very ‘classic’.
Quite complex
The unfiltered eau de vie from Lantenhammer uses bruised fruits and after distilling the eau de vie rests for three years. In the blind tasting, the Lantenhammer delivered perfumed notes with a combination of overripe Mirabelles. There also was a touch of other fruits noticeable. All in all, the Lantenhammer had the best value-for-money.
Aged or fruit extracts?
While the Rozelieurs Mirabelle eau de vie was quite tasty with Mirabelle, plum and overripe fruit notes, I was a bit surprised by the colour. The eau de vie has the slightest whiff of cream colour. This either could come from a slight barrel ageing or the addition of fruit extracts.
Lucious stone fruit flavour
The Scheibel Mirabelle eau de vie uses fruits from Nancy. The fermentation is done on low temperatures. This results in a very tasty eau de vie. You can taste the fruit, some overripe fruit flavours as well as just a touch of bitter almonds. This means the Mirablle von Nancy delivers everything you could expect from a Mirabelle eau de vie.
Beautiful balance
Guglhof uses Mirabelle plums from a specific year to create their vintage eau de vies. On top of that, they produce their spirit without any additives. Therefore, the resulting eau de vie is very well balanced with.a lot of fruity notes. You do notice the stones, but they do not overwhelm the taste.
Lavish plum notes
I also again tasted the Spiritus Rex Prunus Syriaca blind. Matthias Sievert distills it from fruits grown in Baebelitz. While the spirit tasted excellent, my tasting notes where quite different from the last time. Nevertheless, the Prunus Syriaca won the tasting with a beautiful combination of typical Mirabelle flavour, a slight grassiness and a certain depth in flavour.
Perfumed and grassy notes
Last, but not least, I tried the Gutemann Mirabelle. The spirit starts off with clear Mirabelle notes. Additionally, I noticed some perfumed flavours and notes of fresh cut grass. All in all, the Gutemann Mirabelle delivered the best value-for-money.
*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 vies were provided by the producers.
