Bilberry Liqueur

About the Bilberry Liqueur

Only fully ripe bilberries are pressed to fruit juice and then cautiously mixed together with alcohol and a little sugar. That’s how this delicious fruit juice liqueur is made. Its fine, mild aroma in combination with that mellow berry aroma enchants nose and palate – and the eyes treasure the gloriously luscious color, too!

About bilberries

The bilberry (lat. “vaccinium myrtillus”) has many names, for example, blueberry, blackberry and wild berry, forest berry, cranberry, and others that distinguish between low-bush and high-bush berries. Blueberries grow mostly in the mild and northerly zones of Eurasia, from the plains to high up in the mountains – they love fresh deciduous and needle forests, moors and mountain heaths. Blueberry bushes suffer in late frost, however, under a snow blanket they feel protected up to an altitude of 2350 m in Tyrolean pine tree and mountain spruce forests.

The summer-green dwarf shrub (only about 10-60 cm high), blossoms from April/May onwards and from July until mid September carries its black-blue fruits, which turn blue-gray when they are ripe. In winter, the green shoots of the shrubs provide vital nourishment to the animals: the fruits are adored by foxes and the wood grouse, since other tree and bush fruits are mostly too high to reach for them.

While enjoying raw bilberries, the mouth and teeth receive a typical blue coloring, which is however temporary – simply bite into a slice of lemon and the teeth and tongue have their color back in a jiffy! The same applies to blueberry stains on clothing: treat it immediately with lemon juice, and the stain is removed later on during normal washing!

The bilberry harvest in Tirol

The bilberry harvest in the mountains is very exhausting and is not without danger, because the blueberry groves are mostly to be found in strongly overgrown, impassable terrain and secure footing and constant caution is a prerequisite for the safety of the harvesters. The harvest is complicated even further, in that the berries ripen individually over a period of time causing ripe and green berries to appear next to each other on a branch all the time. In good production years, the collectors are capable of collecting up to 1 kg of blueberries per hour with the aid of a so-called blueberry comb, or rake. This tool, consisting of a container with attached comb, makes the harvesting a bit easier: one rakes over the blueberry bush and the berries end up in the container. Afterwards they are carefully selected and leaves, needles and smaller pieces of wood are removed, before being washed and pressed.