Slow Cruel Hands of Time – SR Sylvestris

I still have eau de vies from Matthias Sievert to present to you. This time, it is all about sloe berries and a eau de vie distilled from them. For a drink I choose a weird recipe containing calvados and a German Amaro.

Matthias distils his Sylvestris from berries growing right around the corner from his distillery. For this sloe eau de vie, he macerates the berries in neutral grain alcohol. Afterwards, the macerate is carefully distilled and bottled at 42 % ABV. It might be worth mentioning that Matthias also produces a sloe eau de vie where all the alcohol comes from the fermentation of the sloe berries.

Marzipan and wild fruit notes

Sloe eau de vies always have some stone flavour. This also is the case with the Sylvestris. Yet, the almond and marzipan flavour are very well integrated into the fruitiness of the spirit. Apart from that, I also find notes reminiscent of spices and other wild fruits. All in all, this is an excellent sloe eau de vie!

Maybe not a Negroni

For a cocktail using the Sylvestris eau de vie, I based my recipe loosely on the Caustic Negroni from Frederic Yarm. However, as a base spirit I used some cask strength calvados. Since Google told me that sloes and Jägermeister go well together, I replaced both Amaros of the original recipe with it.

First, let me tell you that the drink does not only taste of Jägermeister! Instead, the flavours blend very well together and from something new. I got a strong cherry liqueur flavour from the sip, although the recipe does not contain any! It is quite strong and the different flavours are dominant, so I would recommend this one as a Nightcap.

*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 Spiritus Rex.