St. Clementine – Lantenhammer Blutorange
As I mentioned last year when I reviewed several blood orange eau de vies, it is a bit of a trend with European distillers to make one. So, a bit overdue Lantenhammer has weight in, but when they did, they made sure that they did it right. The new blood orange eau de vie is an addition to their core range and only uses organic blood oranges. Obviously, the eau de vie is not only perfect neat, but also in cocktails!
Lantenhammer already had an orange eau de vie in their Raritas range. However, they reintroduced the blood orange as part of their regular eau de vie range. Now, the Blutorangen Geist uses organic Moro blood oranges from Sicily. Lantehammer’s distillers macerate the whole fruits in 96 % ABV neutral alcohol for ten days. Afterwards, the macerate is distilled on 450 l stills twice and only the middle cut with an ABV of 70 % makes it into the eau de vie. Furthermore, the eau de vie spends up to three years in stoneware vats before being brought down to a drinking strength of 42 %.
Fresh blood oranges
Compared to other blood orange eau de vies, the Lantenhammer captures the essence of fresh blood oranges. Especially, the orange peel becomes noticeable. After a while, you can notice some curacao notes with a hint of menthol and spices. The finish is extremely long, with hints of black pepper and some tannins. All in all, the Blutorangen Geist is a great sipper, but as promised I also came up with a suitable cocktail.
Caraway and citrus
For the “St. Clementine” I used the “Chocosnaps med Klementin” which Sepo from the Galumbi blog introduced to me as a template. However, instead of infusing aquavit with dark chocolate, I added a bit of Crème de Cacao. Furthermore, I used fresh Satsuma juice instead of regular clementine juice. To still add caraway flavours to the drink, I used another spirit from the Fichtelgebirge, the Sack’s organic Kummel.
1,5 cl Sack’s Organic Kummel
1,5 cl Tempus Fugit Creme de Cacao
4,5 cl Satsuma Juice
0,75 cl Lemon Juice
0,75 cl Coconut Blossom Syrup
Garnish: Satsuma Twist;
Song: Benjamin Clementine – St-Clementines-On-Tea-And-Croissants;
Similar to the “Chocosnaps med Klementin” the caraway and the citrus notes from the eau de vie and the Satsuma juice work together perfectly well. On top of that, the cacao liqueur adds more intriguing flavours and a smooth mouthfeel. The citrus juice brings some freshness to the mix the drink would otherwise lack. In the end, the “St. Clementine” is a perfect drink for Pre-Christmas and the colder days of the year.
*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 Lantenhammer.
