Oats in the Water – Faude Damson
Another great spirit from Florian Faude is his damson eau de vie. While this is a great sip on its own, I decided to use it in a Manhattan variation. This also gave me the chance of opening my bottle of Faude Vermouth.
The damsons used to make this plum eau de vie grow in the middle of Boetzingen, next to the church. This plot of land is called Heuwiese. Overall, the harvest yielded just 140 half-litre bottles. Florian bottles it at 42% ABV.
Plums, plums, plums
When you try the damson eau de vie neat, the first thing you taste is a distinct plum flavour. This is then accompanied by notes of vanilla, marzipan and cooling menthol. I very much enjoyed the eau de vie. However, I also wanted to see how it would work in a Manhattan.
A simple switch
Basically, I just replaced the whisky with damson eau de vie. I also added a few dashes of Abbott’s bitters, but Angostura bitters would work too. I obviously used the vermouth from Faude.
3 cl Faude Vermouth
Stir – strain – chilled Cocktail glass;
Garnish: Lemon Twist;
Song: Ben Howard – Oats in the Water;
I did really enjoy the taste of the drink. The Faude Vermouth works perfectly well in Manhattans, because it is quite bitter. Yet, the plum flavour with the touch of spices from the bitters give the whole drink a great structure. Even though the drink uses a full once of vermouth, the drink leans more towards the drier side.
*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 and the vermouth for free from Faude.
