Vallendar Obstbrände & Obstgeiste (Eau-de-Vies)

When people talk about the German tradition of distilling spirits, the first thing you will hear about is the art of distilling fruit, which is the historically grown foundation of that craft throughout the country. Although countless fruit distillers have long since expanded their traditional profession and now also produce gin, whisky and co. on their own or as commissioned work, in the end it is of course the fruit brandy respectively eau-de-vie production that forms the heart of the German distillery landscape. And the Brennerei Hubertus Vallendar is one of those distilleries. Read More

Happy Chartreuse Day!

“Chartreuse is an herbal liqueur from the Grande Chartreuse!” – This was indeed the first sentence I encountered many years ago when I first came into contact with the liqueur from the green or yellow labelled bottle. It was uttered by a friend who had quickly researched what exactly this spirit was – and thereby left a big question mark. Although I am not a culturally uninterested person, one might  forgive me for not immediately making sense of the term “Grande Chartreuse” at that time. Read More

Château de Laubade Signature & Intemporel Hors d’Âge – The Armagnac Addington

Cognac sometimes is seen as an old man’s drink, which is probably mainly a consequence of the shadow that the growing enthusiasm for whisky has cast over the French spirit genus since many years. Although we are familiar with the adventurously expensive prestige bottles that are often displayed in duty-free shops at airports, outside of France, apart from a small clientele, at times perhaps it have been older people indeed who were interested in cognac. Although this has changed somewhat in the meantime, cognac has always been a classic ingredient behind the bar – albeit one that only regained its reputation during the cocktail renaissance. Read More