Clear Libations

Presumably the Hungarian 'birs' comes from the German 'birne'. As we noted for the Csalló plum, this is a 'Kisüsti', meaning batch distillation in a still with a capacity less than 1,000 litres.

Nose Not too expressive but I would say this is more on galia melon and lemon zest than quince, but maybe a touch of quince jam too. It definitely has a little sweetness. Water helps, rounding it out without losing anything.

Palate A raw, strong attack, dominated by bitter quinces, lemon peel. A little overstewed black tea. The finish is medium, with quite some bitterness. I would guess this is the Csallo, it presents similarly to their plum, with a fairly inexpressive nose and quite a brutal and bitter palate. Again, water is beneficial here, reducing the heat and letting the fruit shine a bit more, rather perfumed, but still bitter quinces.

Comments It comes out swinging, and gets some kudos for that. There is some complexity here, but it's much too bitter for my liking - it builds and sticks in the throat as you sip. Yes, quinces have bitterness, but this seems to be more of a producer thing, given the similarities with the plum.

Price around €37 per 50cl.

Score^?4/10

Once again, I find it bizarre that the distillery is hidden in small text on the back label, while the front label remains rather generic. That's not a promising formula, but we found a lot of quality in Szicsek's pumpkin...

Nose Jumps out of the glass more than [the Csalló], rather heady, some nail polish remover, very crisp quinces, asian pear for days, apple candy esters. Air freshener, parmesan rinds? This is the most complex nose of the three, a bit heady for my liking but pretty good.

Palate Strong but measured attack, rather fruity and zesty. Again lots of asian pear, lemon peel, freshly sliced quince. A much more balanced and pleasant bitterness here, in the finish, balanced by a tiny hint of sweetness, and going on fairly long.

Comments The strongest showing here, second only to Rochelt in our quince tastings to date. In fact, they are not too dissimilar. The Rochelt shows more complexity and texture, but this one is perhaps more approachable. Oh, right, this one is also six times cheaper, and in fact the cheapest of today's lot. Recommended.

Price around €30 per 50cl.

Score^?6+/10

Coming to the end of our Gölles sample stash, with only Williams pear to go. Not that we'll have tasted them all at that point...

Nose More balanced here. This is quite a rich and sweet expression of quince, perhaps caramelized or candied. Perhaps some orange oil, perhaps a few root vegetables (sweet potato?). It does lack a little firepower and complexity.

Palate A more measured, gentle arrival here. Very nice expression of fruit on the midpalate, again mostly sweeter, candied quince but balanced by fresher zesty and bitter touches. Asian pear again too, coffee cake. This reminds me a bit of Capreolus' 1000 Apples, both in the roundedness, subtle sweetness and perfume.

Comments Amongst our least favourite Gölles expressions to date, but perhaps quince is not so much our thing in general.

Price around €48 per 35cl.

Score^?6/10