Schnapps from the Sudetenland

My relationship with alcohol was shaped by literature. All those bars, those wise barmen and barmaids. That subdued atmosphere, where time drags on lazily just before the decisive conflict arises, when the decision is made and nothing will ever be the same again…

BI loved sitting in some pub and experiencing what my heroes did, even though, alas, my problems were always far more trivial than those grand, literary ones.

That was Remarque or Hemingway, for instance.

And then came another book where there wasn’t so much drinking, a book where they distilled spirits.

The School of the Little Tree.

A story set in the American West, where the unregulated life of adventurers—who refuse to be told what to do and how to do it—is slowly disappearing, and where the main character’s grandfather distils moonshine in the woods on the sly, because he can’t stand the ever-present surveillance and refuses to pay taxes.

A very likeable old chap!

But it’s simply impossible to put this idea into practice in today’s over-regulated world, so if you want to distil, you have to register.

Fortunately, not everyone is as hopeless as I am; not only have they decided to distil their own spirits, but they’re also willing to grapple with the red tape, which, amongst other things, means setting up a customs zone, installing quite a few cameras, and measuring and weighing everything with great precision.

If you’d like to visit such a distillery and don’t fancy travelling too far from Bohemian Switzerland, simply head to Dolní Podluží, specifically to GALLI DISTILLERY, whose founder we interviewed about how and what they do.

Cheers.