Jason King
AmyHuangWildbrumby Schnapps Distillery
April 25th 2010 21:59
Nestled on the side of the main road leading from Jindabyne to Thredbo Wildbrumby Distillery is an odditiy in the country area. In the country you expect rural, brown looking places, nice rose gardens, brown pottery and animals, lots of animals.
But Wildbrumby is a modern place in an old area. It stands out and is remarkably beautiful. There are man-made ponds at the entry with ducks galore in them. And then there is life size sculptures of large globes, horses and other bizarre things that will draw your attention, and this is even before you have tasted the schnapps
On one of our days staying in uber cool Thredbo for some pre snow hiking, I should mention that it did snow last night and we have a light dusting of snow over the whole mountain that will melt once the sun hits it all this morning, we headed out to try and buy some of the nicest schnapps made in our fine land. I had been there before and just love the place and the schnapps. Being a rainy day it appeared that every single man and his family also decided to head to Wild Brumby. The owner told us they end up in big trouble when it rains, there is only seating for about 20 people in the restaurant, which is also part of the distillery and the tasting area. We pretty much joined a conga line to see the various flavours and stood shoulder to shoulder with the other three people to enjoy the tasting and we got it all
A Brief History on the Distillery and its Distiller, Brad Spalding, thanks to THE WILDBRUMBY WEBSITE:
The story of Thredbo Valley distillery is a tale of the antipodes melding with European tradition.
It's two stories that join into one. One story is of a young man growing up in the fruit belt on the nsw border, working in Brad’s father Kevin spalding’s business. The other story is of a young austrian woman whose destiny has brought her to a land far away from her forebears.
Over a number of years Kevin spalding owned the fruit shop, deli, cafe and the Granya Hotel. A passion for skiing brought the fruit seller and hotelier’s son to Austria. Years working as an instructor on the ski fields of the the alps in Austrian Tirol allowed him to refine his taste for the finest schnapps.
The joining of two families – the Spalding’s and the Landegger’s - was the genesis of Australian schnapps production. Stephan Hagleitner, Monika Landegger’s grandfather, was distilling schnapps in the farmyards around the Austrian village of Kitzbühel long before Brad and Monika were born. This knowledge has been passed down through the family and is evident in every batch of wildbrumby produced by the thredbo valley distillery.
So, with the fruit seller in his background, schnapps in his veins, Austrian tradition in the family, the snowy mountains as their surrounds, and skiing as their passion what could be more natural than launching a distillery to produce the finest Australian schnapps to rival the best of Europe.
The distilling of schnapps is steeped in centuries of tradition. originally created in central western Europe, schnapps distilling is commonplace all over the continent. Key to the craft is the distiller, and Thredbo Valley distillery owner and distiller Brad Spalding has studied the craft extensively in Austria.
In the years leading up to the establishment of the distillery, Brad carried out research into the ideal selection of fruits to use in the production of wildbrumby schnapps. the result is a schnapps made in Australia from the highest quality Australian fruit, to exacting European schnapps production standards.
The tasting is quite small and with tastes of seven different flavours totalling one drink in a shot glass it is difficult to get more than the smallest of flavourings but the flavours are sensational. We tried Butterscotch (my fave although too sweet for my parents, Mango (very subtle), Peach (deliscious), Pear William (the best), Peppermint (sensational), Pink Lady Apple (very tasty), Sour Apple (my second fave) and their signature flavour Raspberry. They organically grow all their own raspberries onsite.
The bottles are not cheap to buy. At $35- for their cheapest bottle of 500ml in the stylish signature bottle which is tall and very thin. It is only $4- more per bottle for the 750ml bottle but this is a standard alcohol or wine shaped bottle. I would rather pay the $4- for an extra 250mls and have the quantity of quality. The more popular bottles head on up to closer to $50- and the Grapa is closer to $70-. All of the schnapps is only 18.5% alcohol but all flavours are available in the standard Austrian strength of about 40% also at an elevated cost. They have also started brewing their own 51% Vodka.
I was buying 2 bottles and the parents were buying 2 also so we discovered you could buy a 4 pack for $145- a big savings if you have a bottle or two in there that are $49- each. You can buy all their schnapps online if you follow my link to the website above.
The cafe is open for breakfast and lunch and the while we did not eat the food we saw it being served. The Trout Salad looked insanely good and would have been my order, there were also things like Beef Gulasch and Lamb Ragout. It all looked supremely deliscious with an Austrian/ Australian fusion feel to it. They also had burgers and schnitzels which could cater for the kids if you have them in tow. They would love going feral outside while you drank some fine schnapps.
It should also be noted Brad Spalding is not only a fine distiller but an excpetional artist. His art is onsale in the cafe/ shop and there is also a gallery on the property. The only problem is the distillery is going through the roof and he is the only distiller so his art suffers for it and he only has a few remaining pieces with the gallery mostly closed and his only available pieces onsale in the cafe. It is all snow based with childlike paintings of mostly people in yellow on the slopes - I love the childlike style to it and desperately wanted the HUGE $7000- painting from the cafe and if only I had the money.
If you are in the Jindabyne and Thredbo areas this is a must visit place!! Suss more info about the place or to purchase from them direct from their WEBSITE HERE.
Pics are from various websites and will be removed if requested.
But Wildbrumby is a modern place in an old area. It stands out and is remarkably beautiful. There are man-made ponds at the entry with ducks galore in them. And then there is life size sculptures of large globes, horses and other bizarre things that will draw your attention, and this is even before you have tasted the schnapps
On one of our days staying in uber cool Thredbo for some pre snow hiking, I should mention that it did snow last night and we have a light dusting of snow over the whole mountain that will melt once the sun hits it all this morning, we headed out to try and buy some of the nicest schnapps made in our fine land. I had been there before and just love the place and the schnapps. Being a rainy day it appeared that every single man and his family also decided to head to Wild Brumby. The owner told us they end up in big trouble when it rains, there is only seating for about 20 people in the restaurant, which is also part of the distillery and the tasting area. We pretty much joined a conga line to see the various flavours and stood shoulder to shoulder with the other three people to enjoy the tasting and we got it all
A Brief History on the Distillery and its Distiller, Brad Spalding, thanks to THE WILDBRUMBY WEBSITE:
The story of Thredbo Valley distillery is a tale of the antipodes melding with European tradition.
It's two stories that join into one. One story is of a young man growing up in the fruit belt on the nsw border, working in Brad’s father Kevin spalding’s business. The other story is of a young austrian woman whose destiny has brought her to a land far away from her forebears.
Over a number of years Kevin spalding owned the fruit shop, deli, cafe and the Granya Hotel. A passion for skiing brought the fruit seller and hotelier’s son to Austria. Years working as an instructor on the ski fields of the the alps in Austrian Tirol allowed him to refine his taste for the finest schnapps.
The joining of two families – the Spalding’s and the Landegger’s - was the genesis of Australian schnapps production. Stephan Hagleitner, Monika Landegger’s grandfather, was distilling schnapps in the farmyards around the Austrian village of Kitzbühel long before Brad and Monika were born. This knowledge has been passed down through the family and is evident in every batch of wildbrumby produced by the thredbo valley distillery.
So, with the fruit seller in his background, schnapps in his veins, Austrian tradition in the family, the snowy mountains as their surrounds, and skiing as their passion what could be more natural than launching a distillery to produce the finest Australian schnapps to rival the best of Europe.
The distilling of schnapps is steeped in centuries of tradition. originally created in central western Europe, schnapps distilling is commonplace all over the continent. Key to the craft is the distiller, and Thredbo Valley distillery owner and distiller Brad Spalding has studied the craft extensively in Austria.
In the years leading up to the establishment of the distillery, Brad carried out research into the ideal selection of fruits to use in the production of wildbrumby schnapps. the result is a schnapps made in Australia from the highest quality Australian fruit, to exacting European schnapps production standards.
The tasting is quite small and with tastes of seven different flavours totalling one drink in a shot glass it is difficult to get more than the smallest of flavourings but the flavours are sensational. We tried Butterscotch (my fave although too sweet for my parents, Mango (very subtle), Peach (deliscious), Pear William (the best), Peppermint (sensational), Pink Lady Apple (very tasty), Sour Apple (my second fave) and their signature flavour Raspberry. They organically grow all their own raspberries onsite.
The bottles are not cheap to buy. At $35- for their cheapest bottle of 500ml in the stylish signature bottle which is tall and very thin. It is only $4- more per bottle for the 750ml bottle but this is a standard alcohol or wine shaped bottle. I would rather pay the $4- for an extra 250mls and have the quantity of quality. The more popular bottles head on up to closer to $50- and the Grapa is closer to $70-. All of the schnapps is only 18.5% alcohol but all flavours are available in the standard Austrian strength of about 40% also at an elevated cost. They have also started brewing their own 51% Vodka.
I was buying 2 bottles and the parents were buying 2 also so we discovered you could buy a 4 pack for $145- a big savings if you have a bottle or two in there that are $49- each. You can buy all their schnapps online if you follow my link to the website above.
The cafe is open for breakfast and lunch and the while we did not eat the food we saw it being served. The Trout Salad looked insanely good and would have been my order, there were also things like Beef Gulasch and Lamb Ragout. It all looked supremely deliscious with an Austrian/ Australian fusion feel to it. They also had burgers and schnitzels which could cater for the kids if you have them in tow. They would love going feral outside while you drank some fine schnapps.
It should also be noted Brad Spalding is not only a fine distiller but an excpetional artist. His art is onsale in the cafe/ shop and there is also a gallery on the property. The only problem is the distillery is going through the roof and he is the only distiller so his art suffers for it and he only has a few remaining pieces with the gallery mostly closed and his only available pieces onsale in the cafe. It is all snow based with childlike paintings of mostly people in yellow on the slopes - I love the childlike style to it and desperately wanted the HUGE $7000- painting from the cafe and if only I had the money.
If you are in the Jindabyne and Thredbo areas this is a must visit place!! Suss more info about the place or to purchase from them direct from their WEBSITE HERE.
Pics are from various websites and will be removed if requested.
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Comment by Lara M
Love Speaks
Food Slate
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Best schnapps EVErrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrr
Comment by Helen Randell
Rough Cooking
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Save your pennies for a NSW ski trip and get sloshed on the schnapps in the process hahaha