Edelbrennerei Bischof

Die Brennerin is Franziska Bischof's small family distillery in Wartmannsroth, between the Rhön and the Spessart: a state-recognised distiller and fruit-brandy sommelière who carries on her father's, grandfather's and great-grandfather's craft, making dry, unsweetened brandies and spirits 'with backbone', Rhön whisky, gin and liqueurs.

Raw materials

Fruit, herbs and grain almost entirely from the Rhön and the Volkach Main loop: old apple varieties from the family's own meadow orchard of standard trees, grown without plantation farming and home to little owl and red kite, with flowering strips for insects; the family's own wheat and malt for the whisky and the Korn; Franconian organic ginger from the Naturland farm of Sebastian Tietze in Sennfeld; and what is not grown at home from long-standing partners with traceable origins. The whisky casks come from Büttnerei Aßmann, a fourth-generation cooperage 20 km away.

What makes it distinctive

A deliberately small production under the farm distilling right (Abfindungsbrennrecht) Franziska's great-grandfather already held: at most 300 litres of pure alcohol a year for the fruit and grain brandies. The brandies are dry, without added sugar, fining or added flavourings. The Rhön whisky goes back to the mid-1990s, when her father Anton developed it for her mother Anna, who did not care for Scotch. Visitors come to the Destillathek, an exposed-concrete event space on the farm for up to 50 guests, in Wartmannsroth — the village with probably the highest density of distilleries in Germany, linked by the five circular walks of the Brennerweg.

Production methods

• Estate Production
• Handcrafted
• Small Batch
• Traditional Methods

What they make

• Fruit BrandyFruit brandies, each with a name and a character of its own, mostly 40 %: Landstreicher (apple), Pfundskerl (plum), Musterknabe (Williams Christ), Fräulein (mirabelle), Herzdame (quince), Halunke (blackcurrant), Lolita (sour cherry), Amazone (sloe), and the Liebelei greengage and Dolleseppler black cherry — plus Diwa, a 33 % plum spirit rested on dried plums.
• SpiritsSpirits (Geist), the raw material macerated in alcohol and then distilled: Wilderer (rowanberry), Casanova (blood orange), Schöne (beetroot), Schamane (Franconian organic ginger), Dickkopf (hazelnut), Annis (anise), and the Liebelei wild raspberry and tonka bean.
• German WhiskyRhön whisky, single grain from the family's own wheat and malt, matured in 100-litre casks of Rhön oak: Rhöner (five years, 40 %), Rebell (with a chestnut-cask finish, single cask, 44 %) and a ten-year-old Rhöner.
• KornGrain brandies: the Rhöner Doppelkorn, a regular gold-medal winner, and the Liebelei oat brandy.
• London Dry GinFlorian, a London Dry Gin at 45 %.
• LiqueursLiqueurs: the Süßstoff series at 20 % (dark beer, raspberry, elderflower, elderberry, rose petal, sour cherry, sloe, wild blueberry), Denker (herbal, 32 %), Träumer (spiced, 24 %), Rose (Bad Kissingen rose liqueur, 20 %) and Florian Cassis (gin liqueur, 30 %) — and Frizzoli, a 17 % ginger aperitif of ginger spirit, lemon juice and a house syrup of ginger, rosemary and lemon.