Hedonism Meets… Gregory Chevillat

 

Hedonism Wines speaks to Gregory Chevillat, General Manager at Black Forest Distillers, the name behind the revered Monkey 47 Gin, hailing from the Schwarzwald in Baden-Wurttemberg. From the distillation process to new releases, secret botanicals to top tips for the perfect cocktail, read on to discover more.

Founded in 2010 by Alexander Stein, How did Monkey 47 come to be? Why did the distillery decide to set up in the heart of the Schwarzwald?

Falling for the legend of the young Royal Air Force officer, Montgomery Collins, and his extraordinary Max the Monkey Gin recipe from the Black Forest, Alexander was excited by the idea of producing a Black Forest Gin based on regional ingredients and set about bringing the Monkey back to life. In 2008, he founded Black Forest Distillers; the choice of the Black Forest was a deliberate one: In addition to its natural landscape and innovative inhabitants, it is also home to some of Monkey 47’s essential ingredients, soft Schwarzwald water and aromatic berry and fruit varieties.

‘The aim of the game was to create a Gin worthy of its legendary beginnings’

 

As General Manager at Black Forest Distillers, we understand you are in on all the Monkey secrets, including being one of the very few to know the exact top-secret recipe of 47 botanicals for Monkey 47! How do you go about selecting the 47 botanicals (from which Monkey 47 takes its name)?

Ah... the secret 47 botanicals…I could tell you but… I feel very James Bond-esque all of a sudden! Monkey 47 draws on the legendary eccentric recipe of Montgomery Collins and its audacious combination of botanicals. As such, one should not be surprised to discover both familiar aromas native to the Black Forest and exotic spices stemming from India but also a plethora of highly regarded botanicals from across the globe, together they form a symphony of aromas, almost perfume like in its complexity. The aim of the game was to create a Gin worthy of its legendary beginnings, a batch-distilled Gin that unites British traditions, the spices of India and the rich landscape of the Black Forest with unsurpassed artisanal skill. 

This unique blend of aromas is product of passion and vigorous distillation trials, 120 in fact, to find the perfect botanical proportions. The final recipe can be broken down into four distinct ‘aroma notes’: 

-    Black Forest notes such as Lingonberries and spruce shoots (a good third of our ingredients are definitely not what you would call typical Gin flavours but recall our home).

-    Floral notes of Juniper and Lavender to deliver a sensory magic.

-    Spicy notes from the likes of our unique pepper spice mix to lend Monkey 47 is fiery, complex aftertaste.

-    Tangy notes, to deliver those characteristically citrusy Gin notes, achieved through a complex combination of Citrus fruits and herbal botanicals.

The process of their selection is of the upmost importance, delivering a product of the highest quality is our goal, and as such, each botanical is hand-selected and meticulously sensorially inspected, we only want the best and hunt for these across the globe, and a number of them, such as the peel of lemons and pomelos, have to be fresh off the fruit when added to the macerate prior to distillation. This requires the helping hands of hard-working locals who are willing to report for duty at seven o’clock every morning…you could say that this recipe is a true labour of love. 

 

Can you tell us a bit about the distillation and production process behind the gins?

It all takes place at the beating heart of the distillery, in our Apparatus Alembicus Maximus, a one-of-a-kind custom-made distilling operation brought to life with the world renowned and locally based coppersmith Arnold Holstein. We made the conscious decision to reject an industrial approach that would have promised greater production capacity, but, instead true to the Swabian maxim ‘Less is more’, we opted for four 100 litre distilling vessels bearing the names of well-known simians. To this day, King Louie, Cheetah, Herr Nilsson and Miss Baker handle every single drop of Monkey 47. 

The production process itself is rather complex, comprising a combination of maceration – that is, steeping herbal ingredients in a mixture of highly rectified, molasses- based ethyl alcohol and spring water – as well as distillation, percolation, and oxidation. In layman’s terms, we use specially designed Carter-Head stills to extract the essences of fresh plants, boil them, and gather the resulting alcoholic vapours through condensation before allowing the product to mature. Percolation, or steam extraction, enables the master distiller to single out and highlight specific flavours within the distillate’s olfactory profile and intensify the subtler elements {such as floral notes}, which then serve as a contrast to the more dominant components. As time-consuming as it sounds, it’s this technique that allows the delicate, floral notes of Monkey 47’s aroma to survive the distillation process. 

The resulting distillate is then rested for three months in earthenware vessels, and it this through this oxidation process that it develops the unparalleled suppleness and balance that make Monkey 47 one of life’s great pleasures, both in a cocktail or all on its own! The extraordinary quality of our region’s water deserves special mention here too: With its low levels of sodium and other minerals, this soft water is the perfect complement to the Monkey 47 distillate creating a silky-smooth mouth feel. 

 

‘Monkey 47 Barrel Cut is a dry gin with subtle fruity notes and fine, elegant sweetness that combine to offer an experience that is extremely dense and uniquely complex.’

 

What is the story behind your Barrel Cut and Sloe Gins? 

The supporting acts to our star, Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry, Sloe Gin and Barrel Cut, you’d think totally different animals, but au contraire!

Let`s start with Barrel Cut. After several years of sensory research and experimentation with all kinds of wood in search of the Monkey’s perfect companion, we’ve adopted a very traditional approach in our hunt for the perfect barrel-aged Monkey 47.  Now long since forgotten, the rare wood of the mulberry tree was once traditionally used for these purposes in connection with the finest distillates the Black Forest had to offer. The unique colour and aroma it yields during maturation result in a deep golden yellow and an elegant hint of subtle sweetness. We only use new, 110-litre vessels to store Monkey 47 Barrel Cut. Before being filled, these barrels are lightly toasted on the inside, which adds myriad notes to the range of aromas they lend to their contents. The first fill draws the desired aromas from the wood when they are at their strongest. We then store the barrels in a granary that was built to be sound and solid back in 1840, which now provides for a constant climate and a balanced temperature curve throughout the year. Monkey 47 Barrel Cut is a dry gin with subtle fruity notes and fine, elegant sweetness that combine to offer an experience that is extremely dense and uniquely complex. 

Now for the Sloe Gin. This masterfully handcrafted sloe gin is unique in its complexity while accentuating great British traditions and the nativeness of the Black Forest. Let’s introduce you to the (ok, not-so-secret) main ingredient of our Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Sloe Gin. Blackthorn – or sloe, as Prunus spinosa is also known – is a plant steeped in myth and legend. It’s also a close cousin of another stone fruit: the plum, with which it shares its reputation for reducing inflammation, calming upset stomachs, and soothing kidney and bladder ailments. In the Middle Ages, blackthorn hedges were even grown around farmsteads and other property to protect them from the baleful gaze of witches. A real all-rounder, this sloe! Once our sloe berries are harvested after the first frost, we wash them before macerating them in Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin. The macerate which is at around 40° is stirred regularly during six weeks, then sediment settles to the bottom of the tank. The macerate is then drawn out. We also use a hydropress to extract further liquid from the sediment without damaging the berries. The results are filtered several times before being added back into the macerate. We then add water & sugar to bring the alcohol content down to 29%. 

 

The UK gin market can be considered quite a crowded one – what is it that makes Monkey 47 stand out from the crowd? 

Despite the intensity of competition, we still believe these are exciting times for niche, meticulously crafted, edgy spirits. There are consumers out there looking for newness, uniqueness and enrichment, Monkey 47 offers them just that, a full world of exploration. From a rich flavour experience – a multi-dimensional aromatic liquid, ‘like walking through a herbal garden’ once said our founder Alexander Stein, and on to a journey around the world with each sip, accessed through each of our 47 botanicals. Sprinkle this with our unique propositions of Schwarzwald Sloe Gin, Mulberry Barrel Cut and our highly sought after yearly limited edition of Distiller’s Cut, and there you have it, a full compendium of delights and stories to discover and share with others.

Can you tell our readers a little about the Distiller’s Cut series? What is it that makes the 2022 release so special?

How to distil our Distiller’s Cut series into a few words?...(pun intended): botanical curiosity, obsessive pursuit of unparalleled quality, numerous expeditions on the hunt for exotic aromas, the Species rara – the search for the right 48th botanical to add to the highly guarded and secret list of 47, et voilà - Monkey 47 Distiller’s Cut. Just once each year, we, the Black Forest Distillers produce a unique, limited- edition Distiller’s Cut that never fails to set the hearts of gin enthusiasts racing.

We’ve climbed mountains, descended deep into the earth’s crust but for the 2022 release, the hunt for the Species Rara involved a far shorter expedition, the forest at the end of the garden! Lured into a familiar landscape, non-other than our beloved Black Forest, we tested the age old proverb, ‘some of the best things are right under your nose’... this year’s Species Rara was found in the wooded expanse just beyond the distillery gates. Galium odoratum (Woodruff or in German Waldmeister) is a member of the Bedstraw (Rebiacae) family, and owes its unique, pungent aroma to the coumarin it contains. Woodruff plants, can be found in the woods from mid-April. To obtain the characteristic flavour, Woodruff leaves are dried for several weeks. Woodruff actually only contains a precursor of this fragrant substance, which is only released by enzymes when the plant is ground up or left to wilt. Luckily, the granary at 24 Höfe is a dry, shaded place that’s ideal for getting the moisture out of the leaves before they’re added to the traditional Monkey 47 macerate.  The result is a spicy and elegant Dry Gin that features delicate, almost ethereal top notes of cinnamon and vanilla against a backdrop of extraordinary density and complexity. It’s a remarkable taste experience, and not only for those who appreciate the refined aroma of woodruff!

How do you recommend serving your gins – neat, with tonic, garnishes?

Drinks are all about personal preference... our classic Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry, has a deliciously complex and multi-dimensional recipe, couple this with our region’s soft water, and the result is a lusciously smooth liquid that can be enjoyed neat over ice, as you would with a dark spirit, allowing you to savour its intricate nature, or with a dry tonic (lighter in sugar) to open up the flavours more, creating a truly refreshing experience, don’t forget to add a grapefruit zest twist for that added burst of citrus aroma!

Monkey 47 gins stand out on the shelves in their eye-catching medicine like, corked bottles. What is the story behind this iconic packaging?

Ah, our iconic bottle... a great deal of care and attention to detail has gone into curating our classic good looks... The Monkey 47 bottle, which is custom made for Black Forest Distillers, represents the rebirth of an old pharmacy decanter that our founder Alexander Stein discovered whilst out exploring the vintage markets with his son. The decision to use brown pharmaceutical glass, was taken purely out of concern for quality rather than appearance however, as the colour protects its precious content from harmful UV rays… The label, a hand-drawn delight is a story unto itself. Like a stamp from the Victorian era, it depicts legendary travels of Montgomery Collins and hints at the use of regional ingredients.

What cocktails does Monkey 47 work well in? Can you share a recipe with our readers? 

Beyond the all-time-favourites Gin and Tonic, or a refreshingly citrusy Tom Collins, Monkey 47 works particularly well in a Gibson Martini, ours is a sweet and dirty variation of this classic, and I must say it works remarkably well!

1.5 parts Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin
1 part Vermouth Bianco 
0.2 parts (a healthy dash!) of Pickled Onion Brine

Method:
Stir over ice in a mixing glass till very cold. 
Strain into a coupette/martini Glass.
Garnish: 2 small Pickled Onions on a cocktail stick.

Are there any exciting new plans on the horizon at Black Forest Distillers?

We’ve always got our ear to the ground listening at how the gin world is evolving and what our consumers are looking for, as with our botanicals, all plans are closely guarded secrets, but one thing we can say is that our botanical curiosity will never cease to exist... watch this space!