🍎 Fruit brandies

Fruit brandies are spirits distilled from fermented fruit, berries or cider. Under EU rules they cover fruit spirit (category 9), cider and perry spirit (10), spirit obtained by maceration (16) and geist (17). Their strength is at least 37.5 % vol.; flavouring is not allowed, and sweetening is limited to 18 g/l.

The fruit is fermented and distilled below 86 % vol. so that the aroma and taste come from the fruit itself. Low-sugar berries and nuts are macerated in alcohol and distilled (category 16), while delicate fruits or herbs go into geist (category 17). The regulation fixes the list of berries for maceration: chokeberry, sea buckthorn, raspberry, rowan, walnut and others.

Legal names include kirsch for cherry spirit, plum, quetsch or slivovitz for plum spirit, mirabelle, and Williams, which may only come from Williams pears. Protected names are Calvados, Calvados Pays d'Auge, Kirsch d'Alsace, Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser, Pálinka and Slavonska šljivovica.

Calvados comes from Normandy: Calvados Pays d'Auge is distilled twice in pot stills and aged in oak for at least two years, with apples making up at least 70 % of the fruit. Hungarian pálinka and Balkan rakia are traditions of Central and Eastern Europe.

Why it matters to you. Look at the name: “Williams” means Williams pears only. “Cherry brandy” on a liqueur label is a liqueur, not a spirit. Fruit spirits only gain colour after a year in wood. WHO: no safe level of alcohol exists.

Other sections of this topic: Grape brandies; Pomace spirits; Liqueurs; Vodka and grain spirits; Ukrainian spirit traditions; Whisky; Rum and sugarcane spirits; Honey spirit drinks. All sections are gathered on the “Spirits” page.