Spirit Style

What is an Obstler? A fruit spirit in which at least 85 percent of the mash comes from apples, pears, or both. It smells of both fruits, tastes fresh and well-rounded, and isn't tied to a single fruit, which means every harvest can be put to use.

The Williams, by contrast, is a pure single-variety spirit. Only a spirit made from Williams Christ pears may carry that name; anything else is simply a pear brandy. It has the aroma of a fully ripe pear with a light hint of musk and tastes soft, juicy, and long on the finish. Because of its high methanol limit of 1,350 grams per hectoliter of pure alcohol, it stands as a legal exception among pear spirits.

Apple brandy is a fruit spirit made from fermented apple mash. That's something different from Calvados, which is distilled from fermented cider and forms its own separate category. An apple brandy from the lake is usually clear, dry, and fresh, with a fine acidity.

The difference among the three comes down to raw material and the degree of latitude allowed. The Williams tolerates no blending, the Obstler thrives on it, and the apple brandy sits in between, since it may mix varieties but must stick to a single fruit. Tasting them side by side reveals just how much the mash itself dictates the character.

"Schnaps," by the way, isn't a legal term. In everyday use, it refers to fruit spirits, fruit infusion spirits (Obstgeist), and brandies. An Obstgeist is made from unfermented fruit that's steeped in alcohol and then distilled. It follows a different process and forms its own category, but that doesn't make it any lesser.

Around Lake Constance, spirits are usually named after the fruit itself, since there's no protection for "Bodensee Obstler" or "Bodensee Birnenbrand." What matters, then, is the information on the label: which fruit, which variety, which producer.