Top 10 Distilleries in the Black Forest
The Black Forest is the spiritual home of German fruit distilling. In the steep valleys of the Schwarzwald, almost every farm once held a Brennrecht — the right to distil its own harvest — and many still operate as Abfindungsbrennereien, the small farm stills taxed on an assumed yield that keep the tradition alive in their thousands. The hillsides between Staufen in the south and Loßburg in the north are planted with the morello cherries and Williams pears that feed those stills, the fruit grown on the warm, south-facing slopes where the forest meets the Rhine plain. The result is the world's benchmark for two clear spirits: Kirschwasser, the dry cherry eau-de-vie that flavours the region's famous gateau, and Williamsbirne, the fragrant pear brandy often bottled with a whole fruit grown inside the glass, the pear bottle tied over the budding fruit in spring so it ripens around the neck. These ten producers define the Schwarzwald.
1. Schladerer, Staufen (Markgräflerland)
Schladerer, founded by Alfred Schladerer in Staufen in 1844, is the most famous classic Black Forest fruit-brandy house and remains family-run after six generations. Its Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser, Williams-Birne and assorted Zwetschgenwasser plum and raspberry bottlings are the textbook references for southern German eaux-de-vie, double-distilled and bottled unsweetened, and the gold-labelled bottles are a fixture of German hotel bars. The distillery sits in the little town of Staufen at the foot of the vine-clad slopes of the Markgräflerland, just below the southern forest, and runs a shop and tasting room at its historic premises.
2. Monkey 47, Loßburg (Northern Black Forest)
Monkey 47, distilled at the Schwarzwald Distillery in Loßburg, is the German gin that put the country on the global craft map after its 2010 launch. The recipe blends 47 botanicals at 47 percent strength, among them the regionally foraged lingonberry that gives the spirit its sweet-tart edge, all cut with pure Schwarzwald spring water and rested in earthenware before bottling. The squat brown apothecary bottle with the monkey label is now stocked behind serious bars worldwide, the Distiller's Cut and Barrel Cut editions chase collectors, and the distillery offers one of the most sought-after tours in the region.
3. Scheibel, Kappelrodeck (Ortenau)
Scheibel in Kappelrodeck, founded in 1921, is one of the leading Schwarzwald eaux-de-vie houses, known for precise, fruit-forward distillates carefully distilled to capture single varieties, and for its Alde Gascogne range of oak-aged brandies that show a more mellow, barrel-matured face. The Ortenau setting, deep in cherry-and-plum country at the foot of the vineyards near the Hornisgrinde, makes it a textbook example of the northern Black Forest's distilling craft, and the house has gathered numerous medals at German spirit competitions.
4. Kammer-Kirsch, Karlsruhe area (Northern edge)
Kammer-Kirsch, based at Karlsruhe-Durlach at the northern gateway to the Black Forest, is one of the best-known Kirschwasser specialists in Germany. The house built its reputation on cherry distillate of consistent, high quality — the kind that supplies both fine bars and the patisseries that fold genuine Kirsch into authentic Black Forest gateau, the soaking of the sponge being the legally protected step that makes the cake a true Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Alongside the cherry flagship it bottles Williams pear, plum and a line of fruit liqueurs.
5. Bimmerle, Sasbach (Ortenau)
The Bimmerle distillery in Sasbach, in the Ortenau cherry belt, is one of the largest fruit-spirit producers in the region, distilling Kirschwasser, Williamsbirne and a wide range of liqueurs and grain spirits. Its scale and its grounding in local orchard fruit make it a backbone of the modern Black Forest industry, supplying both supermarket shelves and specialist labels.
6. Dürr, Bühlertal (Ortenau)
The Dürr distillery in Bühlertal works in the heart of the Ortenau, where the steep south-facing slopes ripen cherries and plums to high sugar. As a classic family Brennerei it represents the artisanal core of the region — single-variety eaux-de-vie distilled in small batches from the surrounding orchards, the everyday excellence on which the Schwarzwald's reputation rests.
7. Walter, Oberkirch (Ortenau)
The Walter distillery in Oberkirch, deep in the Renchtal valley, is a respected Ortenau house producing Kirschwasser, Williams pear and a spread of orchard-fruit brandies. Oberkirch sits at the centre of one of the densest fruit-growing zones in the northern Black Forest, and houses like Walter turn that abundance into the clear, dry distillates the region is known for.
8. Gold-Cap (Hubertus Vallendar / regional houses), Ortenau
Gold-Cap and the cluster of premium Ortenau eaux-de-vie producers around the cherry valleys distil top-tier Kirschwasser and Williamsbirne aimed at the connoisseur market. These houses, working with single orchards and careful long fermentation, sit at the quality apex of Schwarzwald fruit distilling, where a single bottle can rest on the perfume of one variety.
9. Rossbacher, Black Forest
Rossbacher is a well-known Schwarzwald herbal-spirit name, producing the bitter herbal digestif that sits alongside the region's clear fruit brandies. While the Black Forest is defined by Kirsch and Williams, its herbal liqueurs — built on the wild herbs, roots and barks of the forested slopes — are an essential second pillar of the local drinking tradition.
10. Stählemühle, Eigeltingen (near Lake Constance)
Stählemühle, on the eastern edge of the Schwarzwald toward Lake Constance, became under distiller Christoph Keller one of the most awarded fruit-brandy producers in the world before he ceased distilling around 2018 to focus on his publishing house. Working with rare orchard varieties, long careful fermentations and tiny copper pot stills, Keller turned single-orchard, single-variety eaux-de-vie — from quince and rowan to wild service-tree berries — into collector bottles, and they remain the reference for how far Black Forest fruit distilling can be pushed.
Black Forest distilling in context
The Schwarzwald is a two-spirit landscape. Kirschwasser, made from small wild-ish morello cherries crushed with their stones for a faint almond bitterness, is dry, fragrant and unsweetened; Williamsbirne captures the perfume of ripe pears, sometimes with a whole fruit suspended in the bottle. Around them sit Zwetschge plum, raspberry, sloe and herbal specialities, plus the modern outlier of Monkey 47 gin. A true eau-de-vie here carries no added sugar — the fruit is fermented whole, distilled twice and bottled clear — so quality rests entirely on ripe fruit and a clean cut. The common thread is the Brennrecht tradition and the steep, fruit-laden valleys that feed every still.
Visiting the region
A tasting tour of the Black Forest follows the fruit. Staufen and the Markgräflerland in the south pair Schladerer with vineyard country and the gateway to Freiburg; the Ortenau cherry belt around Kappelrodeck, Sasbach, Bühlertal and Oberkirch packs Scheibel, Bimmerle, Dürr and Walter into a single day's drive; and Loßburg in the north anchors the Monkey 47 pilgrimage. Many farm distilleries open a Besenwirtschaft or sell direct, especially in autumn during the harvest, and the tourist towns of Triberg, Gengenbach and Freudenstadt make comfortable bases. Taste the Kirsch and Williams side by side to learn the house style, bring a driver, and treat each clear spirit as something to nose slowly rather than shoot.
Explore on the map
Use the map to follow the Black Forest from Staufen in the south to Loßburg in the north. You can see how Schladerer anchors the Markgräflerland, how the Ortenau cherry belt clusters Scheibel, Bimmerle, Dürr and Walter around Kappelrodeck and Oberkirch, and where Monkey 47 sits to the north. Click a marker to plan a tasting route — start with the Black Forest on the map and follow the cherry valleys.