Narrow Margins – Engel Kriacherl

If you remember my article on the Spiritus Rex Krete, there are a lot of wild plums out there with strange names. The Brand von Rottaler Kriacherl from the Engel distillery is one of them. This time I went for the Manhattan variation I already craved when writing the other article. Yet, in the end it turned out that things were not so simple after-all.

For the eau de vie Manuel uses full-ripe plums from the Rottal. There are a lot of old farms where the yellow to reddish coloured wild plums still grow. During harvesting a foil catches the ripe plums when shaking the bushes. Afterwards, the fruits are puréed and fermentation takes place in an earthen cellar at around 12 °C. Manuel double distills the mash on a copper pot-still and the eau de vie spends a whole year resting before bottling. In the end, around 18 kg of fruits are needed for one litre of eau de vie.

Familiar and yet different

While the Engel Kriacherl bears some resemblance to other plum eau de vies I have tried so far, the Kriacherl also tastes different. This might be due to the great variance in the wild plum varieties. Apart from that, it is less dens than the Krete, but still extremely aromatic. In the aroma I found a lot of overripe fruit notes with floral notes reminding me of lilac. When it comes to the taste, the plum flavour clearly dominates with additions of fruit esters, vanilla and even some leathery note. All in all, Manuel managed to incorporate the marzipan-like kernel note very well into the eau de vie without it overwhelming the other flavours.

Guyanese rum as it should be

Apart from the Kriacherl, I also want to introduce another Kill Devil rum to you. Fifteen-year-old Guyanese rum comprises this bottling. The molasses for it is distilled at the Diamond Distillery on column stills. After the transfer to Scotland the rum is bottled at a drinking-strength of 46 % ABV. As always with rum from Hunter Laing, no additives are added to the rum, and it is not chill-filtered.

Black walnut rum

I cannot really say that I am an expert on Guyanese rum. However, I did try the usual bottles standing around in your regular bar or liquor store. Nevertheless, the Kill Devil blew me away! There are a lot of molasses notes in the bouquet and taste, accompanied by some Guyanese ester notes. Additionally, I also found some black walnut and a lot of spices in the flavour of the column still rum. If you see a bottle out there, grab it! The rum is limited to 260 bottles and they will be gone soon.

Rye or Rum Manhattan?

Well, I will tell you about my “outtake” recipe below, so let us stick with the final recipe here. The first thing that I was sure of when creating a drink with the Kriacherl was that the recipe should be a Manhattan variation. This is why I also tried it with rye first. However, after not being totally convinced by the final result I ended up switching the rye for the Guyanese rum. I also kept the split vermouth base, but instead of the Gölles Semi-Dry Vermouth I went for the Noilly Prat Ambre with my second try. In addition, and because I love liquorice, I opted for the Seventh Sense Dark Liquorice Bitters.

The drink is exceptionally well-balanced. The rum and the Kriacherl eau de vie work together perfectly. Additionally, both vermouths also fit the drink very well. The liquorice bitters add some darker notes which remind me of cold nights in front of a fire place. In conclusion, this might just be my favourite Rum Manhattan variation.

Strong, but a bit unbalanced

So, my initial idea was to pair the Engel Brand von Rottaler Kriacherl with Knob Creek Rye. Interestingly enough, with rye as a base spirit, a quarter ounce was enough for the plum eau de vie to shine through. Apart from that, I paired the Casa Mariol sweet vermouth with the Gölles Semi-Dry Vermouth. On top of that, I also used the Seventh Sense Dark Liquorice Bitters. However, I forgot that I had home-made brandied plums on hand and garnished the drink with brandied cherries.

While, the above recipe does not sound that different from the rum version, there was a huge difference in taste. Do not get me wrong, the cocktail still tasted great, but the rye was fighting with the plum eau de vie and the two vermouths also were not as balanced as with the other version. This way the drink demanded your whole attention, but if you are up for a challenging sipping experience you should also try this version.

*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 plum eau de vie was provided by the Engel Naturbrennerei.