Where the Gentian Comes From
Primarily, it is encountered in the mountains, especially in spring when it adorns entire meadows with its royal blue flowers in certain regions. This robust and enduring plant grows very slowly and only blooms after ten years, but it can live to be 40-60 years old. There are various types of gentian, including the most well-known, the blue gentian, as well as the pink and yellow varieties. Due to its large roots, only the yellow gentian can be used for distillation. It contains the necessary bitter substances.
From Plant to Distillate
Since this rare plant is protected by conservation laws, it is not allowed to be picked or harvested. Therefore, gentian is deliberately cultivated and harvested for schnapps distilleries on special fields.
However, some isolated mountain farms have been granted a special permit, allowing them a sustainable and thoughtful harvest of the yellow gentian. Thanks to valuable connections with these farms, the Schwarzenberger distillery primarily uses these sustainably and manually harvested roots for its gentian schnapps.
First, the large roots are freed from coarse soil through steam pressure. The fine dirt must be removed by hand. After cleaning, the roots are crushed and mashed – mixed with yeast for fermentation. In about 4-6 weeks, the sugar is converted into alcohol. After that, the actual distillation process begins. At the Schwarzenberger distillery, we always distill twice, first the raw distillation, then the fine distillation.
The hand-selected gentian roots, strict quality controls, and the passion for distillation make our gentian schnapps taste and quality so valuable!