Thanks,
Ben..
I'll be visiting Zuerich over the weekend and wanted to get something back. Is there a national/regional spirit? Kind of like Italy has Grappa, Netherland has Jenever, and Czech/Slovak have Slivovice....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe This is the first one that springs to mind. But read about the side effects first. Enjoy it
three pop to mind: kirsch, pfluemli (made from plums) and appenzeller ( http://www.appenzeller.com)) . I would warn you off appenzeller though, unless you're having stomache issues - truly bitter, strong stuff.
This also might make for a cool souvenir now that it's legal in Switzerland: http://www.blackmint.ch , but beware it's still banned in some countries, such as the US
There's also Etter (made from pears).
Modern Absinthe is a little over-hyped. As the blackmint website says, their export Absinthe is "only" 57 percent proof and contains almost no thujone. Better to try and get some home brewed stuff. I've got some Hungarian Absinthe at home that is 85% alcohol by volume and can stun an ox...
A famous one here in the French speaking part of Switzerland is "Abricotine" which is an eau-de-vie made entirely out of Swiss grown apricots from the canton of Valais.
Unlike Kirsch or Pflümli which can also be found in Southern Germany, Abricotine is a real Swiss specialty.
Kirsch - clear and a fairly disgusting result seeing as it's made from cherries...
A history on the famous drink :
http://www.absintheonline.com/acatalog/history.html
It's a winner in my books....
Hi bozothedeathmachine
My alcohol loving friends are always amazed and grateful when I buy them a bottle of Williams which is (as the name suggests) made from pears. The unusual thing about this is that there is a real whole pear in the bottle. This is accomplished by placing a bottle over the pear on the tree as it is growing then snipping it off (inside the bottle) and topping it up with liquid.
A great conversation piece and looks good on the drinks shelf too.
HTH
Kirsch, like some of the others said... My Swiss in-laws brought it over to the US for my family when they visited for our wedding.
http://www.etter-distillerie.ch/en/p...ruchtbrand.htm
All-natural fruit spirits from Switzerland
Flashman4, where do you get it from?
Sounds interesting....
Cheers
there is MARC which is the Swiss version of Grappa or LIE the latter is somtimes also called DRUSEN
citation...... marc is made from the grape pulp remnants after the grapes have been pressed for wine. From the Treber, GRAPPA is distilled. In Switzerland, we call this special GRAPPA............. MARC.
Another schnapps speciality, also distilled during the winter, is DRUSEN or *eau de lie*. This schnapps is made from the yeasty sediment of grape juice......end citation
Then there are
WILLIAMINE from Valais made from pears,
DAMASSINE from Jura,it's made from a special variety of plums
Swisswide poor mans Schnaps is 'Härdöpfeler' ( more used for digestion help )that's Schnaps made from potatoes
Many swiss Distillers are creating special products made from QUINCE for example or even very exotic stuff like schnaps of pinetree tips( tastes quite good actually )
Hope this helps,feel free to Pm me directly if oyu want to know more.
and for those others who have problems to drink Kirsch ,try it very chilled in an iced glass ( not with icecubes) you will be very surprised at the flavour !!!
And we Swissies enjoy slivers!!!!! of the pear when the schnaps is drunk,to get at the pear wrap the bottle thightly and thickly into newspaper,then hit with a hammer,but not too hard, you don't want glass shards everywhere and into the fruit,only hard enough to crack the bottle into 4-5 pieces.............. then cut into tiny slivers and enjoy
Have you ever tried drinking the stuff??? Its vile...!! I brought some back from France once, it looks better than it tastes!!!
For stupid people: Decant the liquid first.
Unless you want to suck Williams off newpaper covered in glass...
Vieille Poire from Fassbind is magnificent: a lot of Williams type liquors can be harsh. This stuff is the dew collected off the pears at dawn by nubile vestrals, the pure trumpets of Elijah summoning the Bride from her sleep...
For Absinthe, you need to know people in Val-de-Travers and then you get access to the proper stuff, they never stopped making it in that part of the world, despite the ban and police officers were given their bottle to keep them quiet. The illegal stuff remains better
Damassine/Abricotine are indeed excellent spirits, both made with local fruits and quite pricey but it's not cheap shit for tourists (you need to have a taste for strong spirits mind you). My uncles does some "home made" damassine in Jura which is top quality. I also tried quince spirit, there is a honeyish quality to it (try quince jelly too, that's a typical Swiss thing, to be had like any other jam/jellies)
In my experience, very few English and American people do like those kind of spirits, certainly not neat. It seems that, a bit like coffee, the taste has to drown into an ocean of other flavours to make it palatable...
ExoticLatic, you dont perhaps know people in Val-de-Travers do you?
I would love to get hold of some for a friend of mine back home, he's a freak for the stuff.
Appenzeller is a digestive liquor a bit similar to Gammel Dansk and Fernet Branca.
There are many different fruit liquors. In addition to the already mentioned pear, plume (Pflümli), cherry and pear there's also prune-plum aka italian plum (Alte Zwetschge, Vieille prune).
There's also a cheap alternative: To put the grown pear in the upper part of a bottle and then to close it by glueing the bottom. Watch your next Williams bottle...
I've seen it in well stocked liquor shops and in the tourist trap places like Bern etc.
I've had one bottle of it since 1988. It takes pride of place on my drinks shelf.
HTH