When fireman Rudi Schmid prepares his gin, the precision work begins. Just don’t let the alarm get in the way. One morning in mid-June, Schmid has already been deployed three times with the Indersdorf fire brigade. He had to turn off the hotplate under the still every time the beeper went off. But Rudi Schmid is persistent, starts again and again – and takes the measurements exactly. He no longer weighs the ingredients for his gin with an ordinary household scale. That would be far too imprecise. The engineer for measuring technology also bought a scale with two decimal places for his hobby – distilling home-made gin – in order to be able to dose very precisely: cinnamon, coriander, juniper. Maybe a hint of lemon, lavender or star anise? How much of these and other ingredients should be mixed with the neutral alcohol in his stainless steel bowls remains Rudi Schmid’s secret. The recipe for his “Bavarian Firefighter’s GinAfter all, he painstakingly developed it himself – and learned a lot from his first unsuccessful attempts at mixing. He now knows exactly what goes into the copper sheet still and when. And recently his gin can even change color.
Schmid tied a piece of the original fire hose around the neck of the bottle
First, Schmid prepares the flavoring ingredients in neutral alcohol. He lets the brew steep for a day or two so that the taste changes to the alcohol. Then juniper berries and spices are sieved again. The resulting liquid is now rather cloudy and must therefore be distilled. This happens like a classic experiment in physics class: the liquid is heated in a kettle, the hot steam rises into a flask, which releases the clear gin into the collecting vessel.
Schmid heats up his plate until the steam that rises in the flask has reached a temperature of 95 degrees. His distillery runs for four to five hours until the gin is ready. A refrigeration unit is also housed on the trolley on which he mounted it. Using a special device, he measures the alcohol content of the distilled liquid. He obtains the electricity for heating the still from a photovoltaic system.
Schmid does not reveal the exact recipe, but the gin does contain juniper, cinnamon, coriander, star anise, lavender and some lemon zest.
(Photo: Niels P. Jørgensen)
When it comes to weighing, Rudi Schmid is very meticulous.
(Photo: Niels P. Jørgensen)
When you visit Rudi Schmid in Indersdorf, you notice two things: firstly, how precisely the fireman, who works in the food industry as a main occupation, takes hygiene seriously and pays meticulous attention to cleanliness; and second, how passionate he is about his distilling hobby. The fact that he undertakes the complex and expensive procedure in his free time and only sells gin on the side is not obvious from his labeled bottles. The dark, matt bottles are stuck with a self-designed fire brigade helmet logo. Schmid tied something special around the neck of the bottle: He riveted a piece of original fire hose, solid white fabric, around it. What used to be used to extinguish fires in Indersdorf a while ago and was finally decommissioned now adorns Schmid’s Gin.
Schmid offers six different types of gin
Schmid now has six different types of gin on offer, which cost around 35 euros per bottle, and if you can believe his stories, he can hardly keep up with demand in terms of production volume. His “Spring Edition” has notes of lemon balm and lemongrass. His winter gin tastes of tonka beans, star anise and seven other so-called “botanicals” and is said to taste best with hot apple juice, a stick of cinnamon and a slice of orange. The so-called “Commander” has an alcohol content of 45 percent and is particularly suitable for drinking neat. In a limited edition, it is matured in chestnut barrels for what is known as “barrel aged”. Rudi Schmid himself likes to drink a cool gin and tonic with his wife on the terrace on summer evenings.
He recently added something new to his range: a gin that changes colour. It is still blue when poured into the glass – if you add the sour tonic water, the color changes to a bright pink. He copied the trick with the color change from another gin producer, and in this case the magic ingredient is: dried butterfly pea blossoms. These bluish plants, as a natural food coloring, also dip teas, jelly or other cocktails in deep blue. If you then change the pH value of the liquid – for example with sour tonic – the fascinating color change takes place.
The gin is blue when poured.
(Photo: Niels P. Jørgensen)
If you add tonic water, the drink turns pink in the glass.
(Photo: Niels P. Jørgensen)
One of the gin varieties matures in a wooden barrel.
(Photo: Niels P. Jørgensen)
In the meantime, Rudi Schmid has even won an award with his “Bavarian Firefighter’s Dry Gin”. He submitted several samples to an international spirits competition – and promptly received an award. Incidentally, you can also buy his gin in the Indersdorfer Unverpacktladen, where Schmid also buys some of his raw materials. “The regional is simply important to me,” he says. In the “Ohne Schmarrn” Schmid already offered gin tastings. His spirits are also available online. In any case, the local drinks market in his area had to include the right tonic water in its range pretty soon after Schmid had offered his first bottles. Before the Indersdorf firefighter distilled his own gin, apparently nobody had ever mixed a gin and tonic here – that’s different now.
Oops, since when has the county been this hip? More and more people in the district are producing their own trend products – and thus reflecting the zeitgeist. In the series “Hippes von hier” the SZ Dachau shows local producers and their hashtag-ready handmade: from veganer Fashion to coffee and herbal mixtures to gin that changes colour.