Clear Libations

An old wedding miniature from 1997. Belated congratulations to Carine and Franck as we tuck into this one...

Nose Slightly bready, musty, peach yoghurt, a few underripe crunchy mirabelles. Volume is a bit low here, but nice enough. Water is not beneficial.

Palate Good arrival, much more floral here (toward washing powder?), and again some yoghurt. Those crunchy mirabelles come out on the midpalate and into the finish. Again, water not doing much.

Comments Fine, but nothing too exciting. Little bit washed out, and I don't love the washing powder florality. Maybe not stored in the best conditions (light?).

Price Unknown

Score^?4/10

The label has been modernized, but retains some characteristics of the old. Proof remains the same, how do the contents fare?

Nose This one is now rather floral, with violets predominating. There is also a layer of fruit, perhaps more towards mirabelle jam, perhaps even pie. Interesting mixture, I like it. Water doesn't do much here.

Palate More brutish here, quite a hot hit of underripe mirabelle and white pepper. The finish is medium, with the violets coming in slightly. Water does tame things, allowing the fruit to shine more, but does not add much.

Comments The palate lets things down a bit. I find it too hot without water, but a solid dram all round.

Price around €40 per 70cl.

Score^?5/10

Going by the bottling date of 2021, this should be the 2008, aged 13 years in glass.

Nose Far more expressive than [the Nusbaumers]. Reminding me of Gölles' Kriecherl a bit, with rather vibrant, slightly musky plums and a tiny touch of rubber. This is very good, there is a streak of acid and an impression of tannic skins, but also ripe fruit and fine perfume.

Palate The delivery here is excellent, lush and full with just enough grip. Very big, with a voluble fruitiness: underripe and ripe mirabelles, skin, stone. Hints of petrol, iodine, petrichor, pencil eraser. Good texture throughout, very oily and mouthcoating. The finish is long, very mineralic, with more fruit stones.

Comments The easy standout here, and I prefer it without water. The price, of course, is sky high.

Price around €250 per 70cl.

Score^?8/10

A fairly new outfit on the Isle of Man, who also produce rum on their wood-fired still. The rum has made some waves, so we hope to try that as well.

Nose Sweeter and more generous, between the two. Elderflower, honeysuckle, brambles, and yes, ripe blackberries.

Palate Arrives smoothly. More on orchard fruit at first, ripe apples and pears, but also berries - particularly sweet blackberries but also a touch of raspberry, all alongside that floral sweetness. Gains slightly more bitterness, with touches of seeds/pips, and gains a little tartness in the finish, which goes on quite long.

Comments Fair price, and high quality. A distillery to keep an eye on. Maybe a touch flabby, but this is nitpicking. Easy sipper and the mixologists should be having a field (blend) day.

Price around €40 per 50cl.

Score^?6/10

Also known as Csetény pálinka, after the village where the distillery is located. I'm not sure why this is labelled párlat instead of pálinka, perhaps the fruit was imported? The label suggests this rested for 13 years before being bottled. I love the presentation with the etched glass and fabric top.

Nose More tart and narrow, blackberry sorbet, pips. A very pronounced florality too, magnolia and lemon verbena.

Palate Certainly tighter than [the Outlier] and more floral, lots of magnolia hand soap (though without soapiness, if that makes sense). Some effervescence, then more fruit emerging, a few overripe blackberries, blackberry yoghurt. The ABV helps with the finish, which is quite long, without development.

Comments A very different profile, tipping way towards floral at the expense of fruit. Well made, but I would prefer less magnolia here.

Price around €43 per 50cl.

Score^?5/10

Gölles claim 29kg of berries per litre. The brandy is released after 2 years of aging in glass balloon.

Nose Good start. This is quite a rich and full nose. Marzipan predominates, but is not overbearing, being balanced off by the more tart side of ripe rowans. That tartness almost verges on a slight whiff of vinegar, which I find very nice.

Palate Smooth delivery (not necessarily good or bad in our book, just means the attack is gentle). Glides in, then shows some grip after a second. Gently spicy, rich taste of tart rowanberries balanced beautifully against the sweetness of its buds and blossom. Sweet grapefruits, white pepper and other fruity spices. It's a touch thin in places perhaps, but the finish is fairly long, with a mild sweetness.

Comments This is great, not hugely complex but very satisfying and drinkable.

Price around €90 per 35cl.

Score^?7/10

Théo Preiss are an old operation in Mittelwihr, still producing quite a range of eaux de vie. This is an old miniature, probably from the 90s or 80s, with a cm or so of evaporation. Possibly not the best storage conditions. Purchased recently in the little treasure trove Le Temps Du Vin in Bergerac. Why review such a thing? Well, we are charting the world of eaux de vie, which includes all extant bottles. This is neither a buyer's guide nor an exercise in flattery. Of course, for old bottles, condition may vary.

Nose Rather quieter here, seeming a bit diluted or distant. There is some tart red fruit, towards currants, and almonds for sure (almond flour?), orange juice, far off marzipan. So there is some typicity, but just not much jumping out.

Palate Better here, but still a bit flat. Faded lemon and lime syrup, some astringent rowans, some mustiness. Finish is fairly short, but has a bit of astringent bite, which I like.

Comments Palate redeems things a bit. Not bad. Take the score with our caveats in mind.

Price Unknown

Score^?4/10

Supposedly the oldest distillery in Austria, tracing its history back to 1641. Its reputation is rather high, so I was excited to have this one in the line up.

Nose This one is again rather nice. It has less marzipan than [the Gölles], and is more on tart fruits: rowanberry but also cranberry. A hint of something almost sulphurous, like a struck match, but it works. Foliage, cherry menthol lozenges, oyster mushrooms. Shows some complexity, although lacks a bit of power to really back that up.

Palate Again, smooth delivery. Then certainly some grip, very mild almond sweetness balanced with rowanberry astringency. Quite a long development, lots of sweet citrus, a hint of iodine, those menthol cherry lozenges again. Develops on sweet flowers and foliage. The finish is quite long and pleasantly bittersweet, just as if we had chewed some very fine rowanberries.

Comments Again, really good stuff here and it edges ahead of Gölles. I can only imagine what it would do at higher proof.

Price around €60 per 35cl.

Score^?7+/10

These apricots have a famous PDO. Definitely an A-list apricot. Accordingly, this is Bestillo's flagship product.

Nose A good start. Apricot is up front, fairly rich and round but a rather perfumed expression of apricot. It's fruity first, but with a definite floral tint, let's say apricot blossom (though truthfully it's not a smell I know well). A touch of cream, play-doh, plasticine, hint of cat pee. There's some tension, between alcohol, effervescence, minerality, and a little salt. Pretty elegant, although lacking a bit of power.

Palate Quite a light body, lighter than expected. Apart from that, it mostly follows the nose albeit with less expressivity. Floral leaning, fuzzy apricots, a bit of fizz and salt, and quite a short finish. Feels a bit diluted, and somewhat disappointing compared to the nose.

Comments It's a shame that the palate couldn't meet the nose. The score meets them in the middle. Water kills it pretty fast, unsurprisingly. Hungarians tend to say that homemade pálinka can't hold a candle to commercial products. I wonder how much of that comes down to overly aggressive dilution (which is less '40% bad', than 'cutting to an arbitrary point bad', in my view).

Price around €43 per 70cl.

Score^?6/10

Interestingly, the apricots used here are known as Ungarische Beste – Hungarian Best. According to Gölles, Wachau is amongst the other names for this varietal. So we are really in the shadow of Hungary across the board here.

Nose This one is a bit more assertive than [the Bestillo], slightly louder and presenting a slightly more underripe fruit, and less florality. There's still a lot of ripe fruit in there too, but there is a more acid. There is a slight rubber note that reminds me of the Gölles Kriecherl, but it's not unpleasant (Ed: yep, this is the Gölles indeed). It's even a touch petrolic too, in a good way.

Palate Good grip now, powerful delivery. There is a good balance of mild sweetness and acid. It delivers the apricot similarly to the nose, leaning underripe, perhaps a bit more blossom, and that hint of rubber again (but it works). Rather mineralic finish, with tension remaining. This is great.

Comments It's not the best expression of apricot, but that's not how we judge things here necessarily.

Price around €80 per 70cl.

Score^?7/10

The last two we tasted from Savanya were a little underwhelming, even while the beetroot was pretty fun. So I thought this one would stand out, and it did - in the opposite way! Batch variation may be an issue here, as another tasting did not like this expression.

Nose This is a touch rawer still, but not in a bad way. Actually I'm primarily getting physalis and starfruit, followed by a lot of apricot tea (a mix of light black tea and dried apricot perhaps). Nice acidity. Apricot stones too. Not a lot of notes, but not simple either - nice to nose.

Palate Very elegant delivery, there is a lot of grip seemlessly transitioning into a rather luscious mouthfeel. This one is rather powerful and mouth-coating, but again not super 'apricot' driven. I find starfruit again certainly, blossom, perhaps handcream? It transitions into quite a powerfully mineralic, long finish, with hints of that apricot tea. The balance here is great, it is dry, but with a great texture and just enough sweetness. Takes some water, but perhaps best at strength.

Comments Wow! I'm glad Savanya could redeem itself after that rather lackluster cherry. Not a very classical expression of apricot, but who cares? Texture will always win me over, by the way. What a value too.

Price around €22 per 50cl.

Score^?7+/10

Another famous PDO, and as we said above, actually an Hungarian varietal in disguise. Going by the lot code, this should be the 2014 vintage, aged 7 years.

Nose This one is fairly similar to [the Bestillo] at first nose. Apricot blossom, a little high quality jam, a tiny bit of that "apricot tea". Clay, buttery croissant (with jam). A touch of earth and salt, bergamot, slightly gin-like. It's definitely a bit more fruit forward than [the Bestillo], and probably the best expression of apricot here.

Palate Another ballpark from [the Bestillo] here. The delivery is elegant. Here now I am getting a complete expression of apricot, including a bit of stone. The mouthfeel is rather large. It's delightfully ripe, but balanced by touches of greenness, and a bit of stem. Effervescent. Fine-boned yet riveting. I believe this is the Rochelt (full discloure: I've tasted before). It takes water, giving everything more space, but be sparing. The finish is quite long, and slightly botanical.

Comments A masterclass! This really captured the heart of the fruit. Also ten times the price of the Savanya. Very different profiles, mind.

Price around €300 per 70cl.

Score^?8/10

The cream of Italy's crop? I tried to find out if Vesuvius apricots are also secretly Hungarian, but it seems not.

Nose Perhaps my least favourite nose on first contact, but not by far. I'm getting apricot gum, mixed tinned fruit and cream, some honey even. A little cardboard. Feels a touch closed. Water does help, revealing some lime zest, tea tannin and a little more sweetness.

Palate More interesting here for sure. Definitely on that 'juicy fruit' gum vibe, more candied apricot if anything. Quite a green element too, there is grass, lime peel, angelica. Candy puffed rice, and then lots of sweet limes in the medium finish. Water less beneficial here, but it takes a drop.

Comments Again, not very apricot-y but pretty interesting. Love those limes, less so the more candied, artificial fruit vibes. I hear the standard apricot at 60% is the one to go for.

Price around €131 per 50cl.

Score^?7-/10

Derrumbes have offered good QPR in the past; I really enjoyed their Durango, which was my first bottle of mezcal. Let's see about this one.

Nose It's green - raw green pepper, padron peppers, jalapenos, big bunches of spearmint and peppermint. Mild sweetness, drop of lemon juice and white pepper, a little barn/manure funk? This is really aromatic, not massively complex but very nice.

Palate Nice arrival, with a decent perceptual sweetness, candied padron peppers, gently smoky, earthy. Very good full coating texture. A little cream cheese, more of that mint, remains pleasantly sweet, savoury, earthy, with a slight citric and mineral grip, going on quite long. Can take a drop of water but pretty much perfect at strength.

Comments The price on this is creeping up but at around €40 this was a steal and it remains very good at a slightly higher price. Not super complex but a lot of character and very drinkable, holding its own in this line up. Another winner from Derrumbes.

Price around €45 per 70cl.

Score^?7/10

101 bottles for the Aficionados group of spirits nerds. 39% Madrecuixe, 36% Espadin, 25% Bicuixe, bottled at still strength – not too common too see such a proof in this world, but very welcome.

Nose Very punchy and a nice sharpness: apple pie with plenty of cinnamon, toast, lots of cider vinegar, sage, thyme, oyster mushrooms. A little marzipan. It's quite high toned, and a touch solventy. This is really nice, love that streak of acid, and the mix of sweet and savoury notes just works. Later there is some papaya, canteloupe, and pool water.

Palate Punchy, with a good sweetness, powdery (talc?), grapes. Develops on those mushrooms, lamb's ear, grapefruit mercaptan (the meeting point of grapefruit and alliums?). Then that apple pie appears with all that sweet cinnamon. Very mineralic, limey finish, rather long, with some musty attic, old shed and hazelnuts.

Comments Oh, this is really good. Worth taking some time, and adding some water.

Price around €126 per 75cl.

Score^?7+/10

One of these tiny batches from NETA, this one for Europe. Another field blend, similar to the Cinco Sentidos but with Jabalin in the place of Espadin. NETA state: "We we able to purchase half of this batch while the rest was sold locally to friends of the family".

Nose This one is rather weirder, and has many layers. On the one hand there is a big perceptual sweetness that runs along the lines of sweet potato, cooked pumpkin, but also candy necklace. Then there is slate, honey, okra, charring sage. A few drops of balsamic vinegar and slightly solventy (but nice) high tones. It's carried by an elegant puff of smoke from a coal barbecue. Actually it smells an lot like a old garden shed, with bags of charcoal and compost, mothballs, and few old banana skins for good measure. This rewards some patience, really rather complex.

Palate Bold and grippy, rather floral (laundry powder, violets) at first, develops on earthy root veg, then sweet balsamic vinegar, candy necklace. A little water resolves things slightly, giving everything more room. Cream cheese joins, along with some sweet pink grapefruit and that coal smoke. Very long finish, with earthy sweet potato, sage and mushrooms.

Comments Typically high quality NETA. Give it some time. I found this floral dominant on the palate for a while, but it's gradually revealing its subtle charms.

Price around €110 per 70cl.

Score^?8-/10

I'm very far from an expert on agave spirits, so I recall for myself that Raicilla is agave distillate from Jalisco. There several batches of this Sierra del Tigre out there, some with different varietals. I highly recommend the report on Mezcalistas, which includes some photos and information on Don Luis Contreras and his distillery. The bottle has quite a lot of tiny floaters and sediment: delicious precipitate.

Nose Punchy, hugely fruity and lactic: a mixture of mango candy, fresh orange juice, orange Fox's glacier fruits, nacho cheese powder. There's also a fatness, sunflower seeds, salty blue cheese, and sour cream. Cucumber and mint provide some freshness, along with higher solventy tones. Later there are sweet yellow and orange bell peppers on a coal grill, cream cheese, white and pink peppercorns.

Palate Really luxurious from the off; almost gloopy and, dare I say, smooth. The flavour is rich, exploding with orange and mango, some mustiness, grapefruit mercaptan, sweet peppermint tea, sage, and cool ranch Doritos (trust me, it works). This is so fat, a total texture bomb. The finish is very long with a remarkable development in which oranges fade before suddenly resurging many seconds later, this time with a little bitterness of the peel. It can take a drop of water too, which amps up the creaminess.

Comments I love this bottle and regret not buying more when I had the chance. Not the most complex agave distillate out there, but just so good. Very much in agreement with Different Spirits that the texture makes this, though I found perhaps a bit less cheese and more fruit in this batch.

Price around €100 per 70cl.

Score^?8/10