Alte Zirbe – Barrel-Aged Stone Pine Schnapps

The stone pine grows where other trees give up: at the tree line, between 1,500 and 2,400 metres, in wind and snow. It takes decades before it carries its first cones. Those cones are what Zirbenschnaps is made from.

Alte Zirbe is our barrel-aged Zirbenschnaps, stone pine schnapps in English. The cones steep in the spirit until it has taken on their colour, then it rests in a wooden barrel. Nobody hurries the tree. Nobody hurries this either.

Zirbenschnaps or Zirbenlikör?

Strictly speaking, Alte Zirbe is a stone pine liqueur: the cones are steeped, not distilled, and it is lightly sweetened. In the Alps everyone still calls it Zirbenschnaps, and if you order one in an Austrian Wirtshaus, this is what arrives.

How do you drink Zirbenschnaps?

Cool but not ice-cold, from a small glass. After a day on the slopes, after dinner, or when someone comes in with the cold still hanging on their jacket. If you would rather mix it: the Zirben Mule, with ginger beer and lime.

Good to know

• Stone pine cones, steeped and barrel-aged
• 0.7 l, 38 % vol
• Store dark and upright. Once opened it keeps for a long time; the resin just grows quieter over the months.
• The same tree in a gin: Zirben Gin
• To taste and buy in our shop in Bad Gastein, Grillparzerstraße 10

The stone pine took its time. You are allowed to do the same.