Maria Kampp

Come and visit garage distillers, individualists, rebels and drop-outs who distil what they distil for. Grappa, fruit brandy, liqueur, whisky, gin (alpine!) and rum: many good spirits are waiting in South Tyrol. Maria Kampp visits 27 distillers - all of them free thinkers between genius and madness - and looks over their shoulders as they distil. She tells of half-forgotten fruit varieties such as summer lemon and Kalterer Böhmer, which are experiencing a revival in the schnapps glass, of the alchemy of distilled fragrant childhood memories, of Swiss stone pine aromas and mountain spring water and of drinkable mountain meadows. But why do angels steal more whisky from the barrel in this country than elsewhere? How does vegan egg liqueur go? Do women really have better noses? And why is South Tyrol hard to fathom without schnapps? A hymn to craftsmanship, sophisticated enjoyment and the experimental art of distilling.