Attraction Stix distillery

Stix distillery

Description

The scent of fruit - A Tyrolean-Styrian blend Fruit deliveries from the family orchard in Styria for hospitals, barracks, monasteries and a few private customers brought Hans Stix to Thiersee 50 years ago. But the sweetness of a special fruit made him stay: his future wife Kathi. The beginning of a successful Tyrolean-Styrian noble brandy connection. The love of distilling schnapps was laid in the cradle, so to speak, of the Styrian Hans Stix. His parents had a small farm and fruit business in eastern Styria. Even as a schoolboy, Hans Stix was allowed to help his father heat the still. But his wife Kathi Stix also knew the schnapps distillery from her parents' farm in Thiersee. The two finally got to know each other during a fruit delivery. The Styrian was attracted to Tyrol by the Thiersee woman's love of her homeland. Hans Stix moved his fruit business and sales to Thiersee. "I like it here. I like the character of the Tyroleans. Everything doesn't run by 'you' there. And the Styrians and the Tyroleans understand each other. Both together make a round thing," he says cheerfully. In 1999, he finally acquired a 100-liter column boiler. Since then, the Stixes have been distilling vigorously. When it comes to distilling fruit, Hans Stix pays particular attention to quality. For him, quality comes before origin. He still harvests apples, Kriecherl and Hirsch pears in Styria. In his meadow orchards, which are only fertilized and mowed down by horses. The fruit connoisseur gets the plums from Stans. Because there, at 1,000 meters above sea level, a special microclimate prevails, he says. "The temperature difference between day and night is greater - which is why the fruit flavor is more pronounced," he explains. He has now planted quinces, plums and rowan berries in Thiersee. A question of character "A good schnapps distiller needs the following qualities: first, he must be precise in cleaning the fruit, the kettle and the vessels," explains Hans Stix as he removes the stems from several kilos of pears. "Second, a distiller must not be stingy." That's because the first swing in the distilling process, the forerun, must be cut off precisely. As a child, he already conceded the one or other slap if he did not pay attention there. Only then comes the heart, the actual noble brandy. The full fruit aroma in the alcohol. And again, it's the timing of the separation that counts: because in the post-run, the alcohol content decreases sharply. The tannins and bitter substances increase. The art is to separate the individual phases from each other. Feeling and experience are two other essential ingredients. Then it would result in a noble brandy that really deserves this name. "You can recognize a high-quality brandy by its pleasant smell on the nose and the long memory of the fruit on the palate," Hans Stix enthuses. "To get to know this taste experience, you also need the right glasses," adds Kathi Stix. They should be tulip-shaped. Not too bulbous, not too straight. Just right. Just like the glasses in which they serve the brandies to their guests at tastings. Would you like a little more? Hans Stix also makes raspberry and strawberry brandies in his still. But he is particularly proud of his apricot and grape brandies, with which he has been able to bring home several varietal victories in Tyrolean evaluations as well as in the international Destillata evaluation. The mountain gin and cigar brandy have each brought Hans Stix silver at the Destillata. He gathers the juniper for the gin at Riedenberg in Thiersee. The cigar brandy is an apple cuvèe made from Styrian apples that is aged for at least three years in oak barrels. "It bears its name because it goes so well with cigars," Kathi Stix tells us. Both brandies are a bit racier in contrast to the fruit brandies. At 45 - 48%, they also have a bit more alcohol content. Because of their harvest locations in Thiersee and Styria, they are symbolic of the Tyrolean-Styrian Stix couple. Open Thursday by appointment. Tastings and sales on request.