Once a year, an event takes place in Vienna where everything revolves around bread. Kruste & Krume has become a firm fixture on the city's culinary calendar. A festival born of passion for bread, flour, grain, and the baker's craft. We introduced our new whiskies to visitors at the festival. And for that very day, we also gave our Brotschnaps a makeover and a fresh new look.
Kruste&Krume took place for the fourth time this year. On Saturday, 23 March 2019, the doors of Vienna's Marx-Halle swung open, and for the first time farmers were also involved. Spread across 6,000 square metres, visitors could explore 12 "bread estates". Barbara van Melle, the initiator of the project, wanted to return to the roots of bread and shine a spotlight on all those whose work is essential if great bread is to be baked well into the future.
We took the bread festival as the perfect occasion to give our Brotschnaps a fresh new look. The reason we make Brotschnaps in the first place can be summed up in a single word: appreciation.
Brotschnaps: showing appreciation for the "worthless"
Upcycling and recycling are causes close to our hearts. It is artisan bakers who seek out nearly forgotten, resilient ancient grains and bake them into bread. In the world of schnapps, it is equally craft-minded distillers who turn almost-vanished or industrially overlooked berries — such as sloe and medlar — rare fruits, and oddly shaped vegetables into rare brandies. We distil vodka, for example, from undersized carrots or potato peels left over from the production of chips and crisps.
We also have a connection to grain — the foundation of great bread. Though ours is a high-proof one! On our 45-hectare organic farm in Biberbach, we grow six different grain varieties for our "From Field to Bottle" whiskies: brewing wheat Hermann, naked barley, brewing barley, naked oats, emmer, and Schlägler rye. Mash made from healthy organic grain is the indispensable basis for our complex whiskies.
The brilliant idea for upcycling stale bread came from our friend Nikodemus Gottschaller. This Bavarian baker has been collecting leftover bread from the branches he supplies each evening for several years. Since he knows his branches' needs very well, the stale bread rate is just 7% — roughly half the industry average. He cuts the old bread into cubes and delivers it to our distillery twice a week. Josef then mashes the dried bread and distils it into flavourful organic Brotschnaps. Making something new from something old — it works with bread, too.
To cut a fine figure in its role as ambassador for our upcycling idea, we've given the Brotschnaps a brand-new look. See for yourselves — and let us know if you like it.
