No monkeying around with details
In the middle of the Black Forest region, in a village called Vierundzwanzig Höfe (Twenty-four farms in English), lies one of Germany’s first gin distilleries. This is where Monkey 47 has been made for almost a decade now. To pay tribute to the local community, it recently chose to take advantage of what nearby farms and producers have to offer – so that both the distillery and its visitors get to experience the true Black Forest.
The most distinguishable aspect of this hand-crafted bartender favourite is that it contains no less than 47 different botanicals and is bottled at 47 per cent ABV.
A less-known fact involving the number 47 is that private groups who visit the distillery for an exclusive tour are treated to a dinner prepared from ingredients sourced within 47 kilometres of the distillery.
This was Axel Klubescheidt’s, Brand Home & Education Manager at Monkey 47, idea. He has managed Monkey 47’s brand home for the past two years after joining the team in the Black Forest back in 2017. His work with the ’47 kilometres’ started in the late stages of the pandemic as normality returned, with people allowed to meet each other face-to-face again. Axel finally had the time to explore new directions and this is when his idea for a visitors’ experience at the brand home came to mind.
“One of the first things I did after the pandemic was to drive around in the area, visiting local farms. I always knew we had high-quality ingredients – fruits, herbs, and so on – all around us. However, we actually never fully utilised that fact or worked that closely with neighbouring farms and producers”, says Axel. So, with that in mind, Axel began to search for nearby farms that could provide the brand home kitchen and bar with new, interesting ingredients. He discovered a trout farm six miles away, a buffalo farm within nine miles, and a bakery less than a mile from the distillery. A ten-minute walk through the forest was a small-scale permaculture farm, and another short walk was Vierundzwanzig Höfe’s own dairy farm. To find more unique vegetables, he had to drive a bit further – 47 kilometres, or roughly 29 miles.
We’re putting a big, big effort into hospitality and trying to make everything possible here.”
Axel Klubescheidt
The nearby and next-door farms and producers that Axel visited, including the distillery’s own greenhouse, now provide local delicacies for the brand home’s restaurant. Axel admits that calling it a restaurant might be a stretch.
“It’s more of a private area for some of our guests where they can enjoy what the Black Forest has to offer. Everyone who visits for a tour of the distillery is, of course, welcome to our bar and reception area, but private groups that get the full two-day tour are allowed to our upstairs ‘restaurant’,” says Axel.
Here, a private chef famous for his own German cooking shows prepares a dinner for the guests, who are often invited to be part of the preparation and cooking of the dinner.
“It’s an open house, so anyone who is interested can join the chef. We’re putting a big, big effort into hospitality and trying to make everything possible here.”
It’s not only the private restaurant upstairs that values the local community. The distillery also has a close connection to Vierundzwanzig Höfe. Just ask the beekeeper who has lived and worked in the distillery’s backyard for over 20 years.
Back in 2014 when Monkey 47 acquired the property that would eventually house the distillery, this beekeeper lived in a small house on the premises. He was, of course, concerned that the new owners could also mean the end of his life’s work as a beekeeper. However, Monkey 47’s founder, Alexander Stein, promised him he could continue to pursue his passion from the same place as he always had. To this day, Monkey 47 continues to honour this promise and, in fact, purchases its honey from the man in the backyard to serve guests an occasional Bee’s Knees cocktail.
