Back in the first world war, the few French vets that made it back home were given, by way of compensation from the french government a proffession...a licence to distil alcohol, this has been passed down father to son.
These guys setup with a still on a cart and traveled round turning everybodys mouldy old fruit and veg, in fact anything with sugar in it into booze!
75% abv 150 proof and up this stuff takes the glaze off your teeth and the hairs from inside your nose.
l'au de vie - (the water of life) as the french call it.
the whole process starts in the summer when you put a load of fruit(we used plums) into a sealed barrel with a lot of sugar and a bit of water.
wait for it to ferment.
mouldy old fruit
right to business!
the still
we got there at about 8am, got the fire going under the still, got the fruit into the still and screwed it tight and we were ready to go.
it was a lot of fruit to heat up so we sat down for casse crute (traditional french breakfast, wine cheese ham pate bread and then a smidge of au de vie in the coffee afterwards, i dont usually drink at this time in the morning, but it felt kind right
we ate in a really scutty caravan, which has come up remarkably well in the shots, shows my mad camerman skills, the inside looked like a frat house kitchen.
breakfast - casse crute
the scabby caravan we got 8 people in here.
it hasnt moved in a while, also the dirty rag is used to clean it, it came with the still
the stills mark of origin, just a nice piccy with the sun really
lunch cooked with only an opinel pocket knife
and around lunch time it started comming out !
lid comes off
tipping out the mash
the mash
Haut's dad, gf and mum
220 litres of plums in 23l bad show this year, next year more sugar less water the guy says
will give you "tasting notes" when our bottles get smuggled to england.