Eau de vie / Fruit Brandies

This is a eau de vie is made from Swiss cherries in small copper pot stills. Like some of the other excellent eau de vies reviewed on this website the Etters do not use bulk ethanol and chemical flavors like some (O.K. most ) of their competitors to make some bastardized vodka kool-aid and try to pass it of as eau de vie. It uses a much more true (but expensive) process. They use a type of cherry that is increasingly rare – the black “Mountain Cherry” which is smaller and sweeter than most but grows on a tall cherry tree (most trees have been bred down for easier harvesting)then distilled and only the very center cut of the distillation is aged in small glass demijohns (50L) to mellow for 3 years before bottling.

Hubert apricot brandy is a brandy with the finest aromas and is characterized by a particularly pronounced sweet smell like grandma's jam and a full, nicely balanced taste. It is made from hand-picked fruits of the best apricot varieties that are left on the tree until they reach full maturity and sweetness. In order to preserve the pure aroma of apricots, the pits are removed. It is produced in the traditional way, in copper cauldrons by double distillation, according to an old proven family recipe. 

This brandy Dunja Barrique by Hubert 1924 is a quince rakia that aged two years in barrique and is produced from carefully selected fruit from the region of Vojvodina, Serbia, characterized with very well-developed agriculture with long traditions and high quality fruit production. It is produced in a traditional way in a pot still without a distillation column. Typical for the production is the extremely careful selection of the fruit.

This rakia is characterized with exceptional balance in the aroma and flavor where the fruit is preserved in an exceptional way while at the same time it is very successfully combined with the effects coming out from aging in oak barrels. It fits perfectly with beef prosciutto, dried pork neck, aged cheese with elegant flavor, especially goat cheese as well as olives and carpaccio.