A hidden building on the edge of the forest, centuries old, as small as a witch's cottage, pitch-black like a spirit dwelling at Wilhelm Hauff's, inside an archaic kiln in which a beech wood fire blazes to heat mash from black cherries for an hour or two until, as if by magic, a crystal-clear liquid runs down cooling pipes into a bucket – the purest Black Forest kirsch, a handcrafted treasure.

All of this is monitored with eagle eyes by the master distiller, who has hands like vices, a neck like a Minotaur and otherwise has all the prerequisites for starring in a gangster film about Prohibition, as well as the whole scenery reminding of the wild days of clandestine moonlighting.

But far from it: Josef Sester duly registered his Brenntag with the customs authorities,

Jakob Strobel and Serra

deputy head of the feature section.

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There are two hundred private distilleries in the village with a population of 1,500, and there are 796 in the small district town of Oberkirch, the superordinate municipality that undoubtedly deserves the title of the world capital of schnapps distilling - although the distillers decidedly prefer the term noble brandy to the word schnapps.

Oberkirch owes this world record not only to the fertility of the Rench valley, but also to the bishop of Strasbourg, who granted his property on the right bank of the Rhine the right to distillery in 1726 because the farmers could not process their vast quantities of fruit otherwise.

This is how a deep symbiosis of people, fruit and schnapps came about, which lives on magnificently to this day: you can see immediately that the Renchtal is a living cultural landscape,

A ride on the razor blade

Experience and care are the alpha and omega of the art of distilling, even if Josef Sester's colleague Johannes Halter is blunt and says that good fruit is responsible for 85 percent of a good distillate.

He should know, because he is one of the few fine brandy sommeliers in Germany, has won dozens of gold medals in competitions and, at 41, belongs to a new generation of master distillers in the Black Forest who are cutting old habits without cutting their roots.

Halter only processes fruit of the best quality, pays meticulous attention to the ideal degree of ripeness and does not use cherries or plums that are too green or overripe, because the brandy then becomes either flat or buttery.

It is harvested early in the morning so that it can be distilled the same day, because with quality fruit schnapps, like oysters, every hour of freshness is important.

The fermentation takes place at twenty degrees so that the aromas develop gently and remain in the mash.

And the burning happens very slowly, because only then can Halter hit the exact spot where the wheat separates from the chaff.

Three so-called fractions are created during firing, the pre-run, the heart and the after-run.

The first tastes like glue, the aftertaste like soap, but the middle piece alone makes a good brandy.

That's why Halter sits like a lapwing in front of his cauldron to be able to smell the change of factions in a matter of seconds.

"It's always a razor blade ride, because the beginning and end of the heart has the most intense flavor and every master distiller wants to get as much of it into his bottle" - always with the risk of going too far and ruining the aroma .

This sometimes happens even to experts like Halter, but in the vast majority of cases his brandies taste like the distilled spirit of a mirabelle plum, cherry or Jerusalem artichoke, like their deepest, most concentrated soul,

Not only private distillers and noble brandy sommeliers are working to save the honor of the Black Forest schnapps, but also the large companies in the valley such as the Feingeistbrennerei Fies, which has given its traditional Kirschwasser label with the Black Forest Bollenhut a hipster image and together with committed young farmers for survival rare types of fruit - such as the Bühler plum, which is extremely aromatic but easily perishable, or the Zibärtle, a Black Forest wild plum that tastes of marzipan and bitter almonds.

At Fies, the best drops are stored for years in large earthenware amphorae, because their breathable surface allows the schnapps to mature like wine in barrels.

Some rarities end up in the wood themselves and thus become so fine, so idiosyncratic, so artful,

that every Black Forest gin also tastes like firewater from a harbor bar - like the Kirschwasser Momentum, which was allowed to mature for eight years, is then filled into a precious carafe with the classic diamond relief and, thanks to its filigree opulence, its flattering softness, becomes a miracle drink, for whom the word schnapps is far too vulgar.

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