Monsieur Valentine – Engel Clementine

I have tried a few mandarin eau de vies so far, but I never had one distilled from clementines. Of course, those two citrus varities are quite similar that is why you can only but clementines as fresh fruits. Yet, this did not stop me from using the spirit in another summer highball.

Manuel uses clementines from Nules in Valencia, Spain. What I just learned when writing this is that clementines are a hybrid of mandarins and oranges. As with his other citrus eau de vies, Manuel macerates the peel in neutral grain alcohol before the distillation run. In the end, he bottles the clementine eau de vie with an ABV of 42%.

Mandarin flavours with rice

Apart from a distinct mandarin / clementine flavour, the eau de vie had notes of high-quality jasmine rice. Apart from that, I also found a mandarin blossom as well as an orange peel taste. The aftertaste was very long with even more mandarin notes. All in all, I enjoyed the clementine spirit the best of all of Manuel’s new citrus eau de vies.

Red wine aperitif and a botanical tonic

When you combine a red wine aperitif such as Lillet Rouge, or Byrrh with a good tonic water, you already have an excellent highball. Yet, to make things a bit more interesting I threw in a bit of Engel Clementine eau de vie. Obviously, the drink changes depending on which red wine aperitif liqueur you use, but I should work with most of them. However, I do prefer Byrrh here.

Originally, I wanted to go even drier with the tonic water, but I had the Thomas Henry Botanical Tonic on hand. I guess, it all comes down to your personal preference. Yet, the resulting drink was very delicious with just the right amount of mandarin flavour. The fruity and slightly herbal flavours just work perfectly with the citrus aroma.

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. I received the eau de vie for free from Engel Naturbrennerei.