Berlin keeps wild gardens between its apartment blocks. The elder bush by the railway line, the cornflower in a neglected courtyard, the wild rose climbing a firewall. Berliner Brandstifter collects exactly those flowers and puts them into a vodka.
Expert description
Berliner Brandstifter 2016 Vodka is a German Vodka from Berliner Brandstifter, distilled from French sugar beet, refined with Berlin flowers and bottled at 43.3%.
The house was founded in 2009 by Vincent Honrodt, whose great-grandfather ran a spirits business in Berlin in the early twentieth century. The name translates as arsonist, and it is meant as a joke: in old Berlin slang, an arsonist was also somebody who burned spirit.
The base is a distillate of selected French sugar beet, five times distilled and seven times filtered. That gives a rare mildness despite the 43.3%, and it leaves a faintly earthy sweetness that grain vodka simply does not have. On top come the flowers: wild rose, elderberry, blackcurrant, violet root and cornflower, all grown and hand-harvested at the Speisegut farm in Berlin.
The flowers macerate for several weeks and are then distilled individually before the distillates are blended into the base. Each batch rests for some weeks in a 700-litre tank so the aromas can settle, and is then bottled in runs of 999. Label and number go on by hand in Berlin.
Tasting notes
Nose
Floral and fresh. Elderflower arrives first, then blackcurrant leaf and a fine powdered touch of violet root.
Palate
Mild despite the strength. A faintly earthy sweetness from the sugar beet carries blackcurrant and rose petal, with a peppery glint at the end.
Finish
Medium and drying. The flowers withdraw slowly and leave a clean, lightly mineral impression.
Specifications
Name: Berliner Brandstifter Vodka
Producer: Berliner Brandstifter
Region/Country: Berlin, Germany
Type: German Vodka
ABV: 43.3%
Size: 70 CL
Distillation method: Five times distilled from French sugar beet, seven times filtered, refined with Berlin flowers
Edition: 2016
EAN no.: 4260393531000
Serving suggestion: Neat and cool in a small glass, or as a vodka soda over ice where the flowers get some air.
Flavour profile
Floral · Mild · Blackcurrant · Lightly earthy sweetness
Did you know?
The bottle has won as much for how it looks as for what is in it. It took gold at both the German Design Award and the European Product Design Award in 2017, the same year the vodka itself collected a DLG Golden Award for product quality.
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