Description
If you're more into cigars than Nutella, you should definitely reach for this specialty. Because this barrel-aged hazelnut spirit has it all. With a proud 45 percent volume, it belongs to the cigar brandies, a category of brandies that are both barrel-aged and high-proof.
Sensory description
- In the nose of this spirit, there is a clear nutty note with nuances of vanilla. Its aromatic, complex taste convinces with the balanced ratio between hazelnut flavors and barrel notes.
Production
Hard shell, soft core - this proverb applies to no nut as much as it does to the hazelnut. Once the hard shell is cracked, you will find a single large seed. Despite its high fat content of 60%, this seed contains neither sugar nor starch. As a result, the nut cannot be fermented. In our distillery, it is peeled and crushed before being soaked in neutral alcohol. This process is called maceration. Here, the alcohol extracts the aroma from the roasted hazelnut. After a certain period of time, the alcohol from this macerate is slowly distilled again in a small 130-liter pot still. It is no longer neutral, but smells and tastes of the bitter-nutty aromas of the hazelnut. We need half a kilo of hazelnuts to produce one liter of our fine spirit with 45% alcohol content. This hazelnut spirit gets its special touch from at least one year of barrel aging in one of our emptied 100-liter VAN LOON whisky barrels. This gives the spirit a multidimensionality and its golden yellow color. The filtration is done through activated carbon. Only water is used to dilute the spirit during bottling. No flavorings or sugars are added. Likewise, it is not diluted or blended.