Estonia grows a very peculiar variety of apple – rowan. Yes, a rowan is actually a tiny apple. Because of its tiny appearance, it is more popularly known as a berry. They are rich in sorbic acid, which gives them a bitter and slightly tart taste.
However, after the first night frosts, the sorbic acid breaks down and the small ‘apples’ become milder and sweeter. Then it’s the perfect time to grab the buckets and start picking. The timing has to be just right, so that the wild birds, with their highly developed taste buds, don’t have time to grab the whole harvest.
Once the harvest is in hand, we crush the rowanberries and put them in a quality domestic rye spirit for three months. From then on, time does much of the work for us. We filter and fine-tune the final flavour before bottling.
For us, it’s important to have a balance between the strength, sweetness and specific flavour of the rowan. As we make our drinks from real berries and fruit, sediment can form at the bottom of the bottle.
Rowanberry Schnapps is slightly bitter, which makes it very suitable as an aperitif on its own. It stimulates the appetite and makes the taste buds more alert. We recommend drinking it slightly chilled from a larger aromatic glass. In warmer weather, Rowanberry Schnapps is a wonderful accompaniment to cold sparkling wine or apple cider.
