Enjoyment
Interview: Heiko Schulz
The School of the Senses Stählemühle Christoph Keller has turned the “Stählemühle“ into one of the most innovative fruit brandy producers in the world; top chefs clamor for his exclusive herb distillates. He is an expert in condensing aromas and refining the ability to savor. bulthaup: Mr. Keller, why are you calling your fine fruit brandy distillery experimental? Christoph Keller: At the Stählemühle, it‘s all about sensory experiences. We distill all kinds of things and we capture their aromas. We experiment, for example, a lot with herbs from our large garden. Our goal is to transfer herbs into single-source distillates, not for drinking or as digestifs, but rather as an aroma additive in cooking. You need well-trained connoisseurs for this type of sophisticated product. Is this why you are carrying out sensory training courses? Yes, the sensory training courses are aimed at
creating awareness of distillates. If you work with fruit or herbs, you can discover a huge variety of aromas. How do the training courses work? We first give people the basics. Pitted fruit, for example, always contains a bitter nut and that means that every distillate with a bitter nut flavor must come from pitted fruit. We do however also open up new sensory perspectives, for example to lavender. Most people immediately think of perfume or closet fragrancers. Nobody realizes that lavender actually tastes wonderful. Lavender blossoms can be dissolved very nicely in sauces or enjoyed as a distillate. Do you also learn anything about the art of refining? Of course. We explain the process using specific examples. Let‘s take vodka combined with raspberries, for example. The vodka, being a neutral alcohol, takes up the aroma of the raspberries.
This produces a starting schnapps that tastes of raspberries. If you compare this with a raspberry distillate, however, a raspberry brandy or a raspberry schnapps, you‘ll soon find that the aromas produced by distilling are much more refined, more elegant and much sharper. There are no oily, earthy, blunt aromas – they are eliminated by the distilling process. In the art of aromas, this means reaching a higher level. With very pure flavors. And aside from the theory? Our sensory seminars often end with a blind tasting with a wide range of results. Human sensory skills are indeed very different. Women are better than men, younger people are better than older people, and non-smokers are better than smokers – but of course not in every case. There are also extreme differences in people‘s sensory training levels.
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Photos: Bernd Kammerer (tasting), Ingmar Kurth (orchard), Stählemühle (bottle)
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How does that happen? Some have deliberately trained their perception of smell and taste, while others have tended to neglect their potential. In fact, you can even train children very effectively. This is what we‘re doing with our son. He‘s eleven, and he‘s very gifted when it comes to aromas. In an evening, he can sniff my clothes and tell me what I‘ve been distilling that day. I often deliberately give him a little bottle and let him sniff – it‘s very educational.
When are you actually happy with a product? For us, it‘s always of course about what‘s truly typical and the question: Does something match our idea of a fruit? It‘s not just the fruit you have to taste, but the entire lifecycle: Blossom, fruit, decay. If you have all that in a glass, then you‘re close to happiness.
Exclusively for bulthaup, the Stählemühle distillery has put together a gourmet package containing two barrel-aged brandies. The order form can be found on page 46.
1 The finest aromas distilled: Christoph Keller (left) tastes some of his exquisite young brandies in the underground maturation store of the Stählemühle. 2 The office building of the Stählemühle is situated at the heart of traditional mixed orchards where Christoph Keller looks after around 80 different old types of fruit. 23