Spirit Style

Fränkisches Kirschwasser is the region's signature spirit: crystal clear, with the aroma of ripe sweet cherries and a subtle bitter almond note from the pit. On the palate it's dry, with no added sugar, and warmth lingers in the finish. It's distilled from cherries grown in Franconia and bottled at a minimum of 40 percent alcohol. That makes it a clean, unadorned, dry counterpart to sweet cherry liqueurs.

The comparison to Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser comes naturally, and both belong to the same category: fruit brandy. The difference lies first in origin—each designation is legally protected and ties the name to its respective region. How the spirits actually differ in the glass depends far more on the distiller, the vintage, and how the fruit ripened than on the postal code.

Besides Kirschwasser, two other Franconian spirits carry protected status, both since 1989. Fränkisches Zwetschgenwasser is distilled from Zwetschgen plums—a different fruit with its own distinct plum character. Fränkischer Obstler is a blended fruit brandy in which at least 85 percent of the mash must come from apples or pears, with the remainder allowed from other fruits.

Anyone wanting to tell Kirschwasser apart from cherry liqueur should check the sugar content. Fruit brandy may contain no more than 18 grams of sugar per liter, while a liqueur is considerably sweeter. And a Kirschgeist would be something else again: a distillate made from unfermented cherries steeped in alcohol, not a true brandy from fermented mash.