Water of life

Depending on your spirit of choice, you may think I’m going to write about Scotch, or perhaps Aquavit, but no, I’m not. Before one of my recent trips to Germany, a friend of mine who is interested in such things asked me whether there were any good German eau-de-vie’s, and I had to honestly answer that I didn’t know. I had tried any of a number of different schnaps, aperitifs, and digestifs while in Germany, but truth be told I really hadn’t paid attention to where they were from or which ones were better than others. I resolved, in the face of this question, to find out.
Fortunately, I have just the friend for that kind of question and I was visiting him on that very trip. So, he suggested I try any of the various products of a small distillery from the Black Forest called Schladerer. Fortunately for me, Schladerer makes a nice little sampler box of its most popular eau-de-vie, so I bought two of them and brought them home for a good, old-fashioned taste off.
And taste we did, coming to the conclusion that there are indeed good German eau-de-vie. We both liked the kirschwasser best, a clear cherry brandy. In fact, the inspiration for this post is the glass of same I had this evening from the full-sized bottle I bought on my last trip. The others were good as well, with my preference, from most enjoyable to least, as follows: Williams pear, raspberry, apricot, then plum.
I’m not sure if Schladerer’s products are available in the US (they are not available in the People’s Republic of Pennsylvania, where the liquor stores are state-run), but if you see a bottle by all means, give it a try.