Distilling: How it works
Thredbo Valley Distillery produces a purely Australian schnapps made from Australian fruits, locally grown on the south west slopes of New South Wales.
Fruit is sourced from both our adjacent raspberry farm, and from local producers in the Tumut, Batlow and Snowy Mountains region. Apples, pears, berries and stone fruit are of the highest quality with rich flavours especially suited to making schnapps.
Stage 1:
Fruit: Quality produce is selected and de-stalked. Thredbo Valley Distillery specialises in raspberries grown in-house.
Stage 2:
Crushing: The fruit is sliced, diced and processed by machine. Stones and pips remain whole. Crushing the fruit is necessary for successful fermentation.
Stage 3:
Fermentation: The crushed fruit pulp is then fermented in vats, at controlled temperatures in a cool room for specific periods of time.
Stage 4:
Distillation: The fermented pulp is loaded into the imported Ulrich Kothe still and distilled. This is a critical point in the process that has been perfected to produce a crisp clean schnapps. The gorgeous polished brass still forms the centrepiece of the cafe and distillery door.
Stage 5:
Aging: The spirit from the still is aged in vats then blended. The schnapps is now ready to be bottled.
Stage 6:
Buying and drinking: This is most important and fun part of the whole process. We hope you enjoy.