Tamborine Mountain's Smooth "Water of Life"

It seems that not only have Australians shown the French a thing or two in making top wines, they are doing it with Eau-de- Vie as well. Translated Eau-de-Vie means "water of life" and Tamborine Mountain Distillery have recently been recognized for three of their Eau-de-Vie varieties at the prestigious Beverage Testing Institute USA.

Fraise-Strawberry Eau-de-Vie in its distinctive hand-painted bottle

Eau-de-Vie is a spirit drink that is treasured for its freshness, liveliness and encapsulating the essence of the fruit that came to make it.  The clear distilled liquid is drunk young without years of interaction with wood and air to change the flavours.  

Eau-de-Vie is treasured in Europe as an after dinner drink - a digestif - to cap off a great meal.  Grappa is a form of Eau-de-Vie where the base fruit is the grape.  The experience of drinking a fine Grappa is quite distinct from that of a fine brandy.

The most famous of the Eau-de-Vie varieties is probably that based on the Bartlett or Williams Pear with the cherry Eau-de-Vie of the Black Forest region of Germany a close second.  But just about any fruit can be used to make Eau-de-Vie.

In their award winning Australian Eau-de-Vies, Michael and Alla Ward used naturally grown, organic fruits harvested at their time of peak flavour and sugar.  The three winning spirits were made from strawberries, apricots and apples.

"We use an artisanal pot still distillation process," said Michael Ward, "And this is carefully controlled to create either a delicate light flavour or a more intense to full flavoured Eau-de Vie."

"The process starts with the fermentation of the fruits," said Michael.  "Then several further distillations where sometimes we will add further fruit to enhance and smooth out the precious Eau-de-Vie liquor.  Vitality and freshness are the qualities we look for."

"The final distilled liquid is blended with Tamborine Mountain spring water to produce a buoyant 40-45 Alcohol/Volume.

"The water adds to the flavour and enjoyment of the liquor - and without it the alcohol would probably knock your head off," laughed Michael. 

"We then bottle it in our beautiful hand painted bottles which are such a part of the Tamborine Mountain Distillery product."

Finding quality Eau-de-Vie behind the bar was difficult for many years.  Most bars simply didn't stock it and didn't know how to use it if they did. 

"The understanding and use of this magical elixir has grown rapidly along with the caliber of cocktail bars and passion for mixing drinks amongst bartenders," said Michael Ward.

We have a wonderful source of fruit and a knowledge of how to make small runs of quality specialised spirits.  We are now educating the local market and exporting to overseas markets where there is an understanding of the exceptional quality products that we produce here on Tamborine Mountain. 

The Beverage Testing Institute in the USA recently awarded two gold medals and one silver medal to the Tamborine Mountain Distillery:

We asked Michael how he feels about the latest results.  "It's a great thrill is to constantly knock of the big boys. David slays Goliath so to speak.  Yes, we're very pleased."