Preparation Two of the world's best fruit distillers, Georg Hiebl from the Austrian Mostviertel and Gerhard Liebl from the Bavarian Forest, have selected two varieties of the Williams Christmas pear for their joint project WILLIAMS ROT/GRÜN 060: The green Williams is the fresher of the two varieties, with slight hints of citrus aromas. The red Williams pear, on the other hand, is juicy, has an intense pear aroma and a slightly spicy finish. The eau-de-vie made from green and red Williams' bon chrétien pear combines these aromatic qualities to create a complex fruit brandy that sets new standards. Ingredients The requirement for outstanding fruit brandies are ingredients of the best quality. Georg puts it succinctly, "The most important thing is the base product. The source product must be top quality."  Gerhard adds, "If the quality of the pear is not good, because the tree is not adequate or because there simply wasn't enough sunshine, you can't make a high-quality brandy from it - and whoever likes can stand at the still." The pears for WILLIAMS ROT/GRÜN 060 come from a friendly Piedmontese fruit farm. The contact was made during a long search for the best fruit. Fermentation The pears are cleaned of all stems and leaves and washed. Before being mashed separately, the green and red Williams pears are placed in a cold room for about two weeks, where their aroma slowly develops at low temperatures. Afterwards, they are lightly crushed, but without tearing the pectin-containing skin of the pears too much, to form a mash. The PH of the mash is lowered and inoculated with yeast. Fermentation takes place in temperature-controlled tanks. Care is taken to ensure that all the mash is constantly cooled. Any contact with oxygen is avoided. As soon as fermentation subsides, the distillation process begins immediately. This is the only way the two distillers can achieve outstanding quality. Georg emphasizes: "During the entire fermentation process, it is important that everything works well and nothing goes wrong. At the end of fermentation, the mash must be distilled quickly." Distillation The distillation of the two pear mashes is done in small copper pot stills. Georg and Gerhard distill the mash of the green and red Williams pears separately. The mash is gently heated in the still and constantly stirred. The separation of the heads, heart of the run and tails is done by sensory inspection. In addition to years of experience, the master distiller's sensory skills are the most important factor in distillation. Georg emphasizes: "The master distiller's palate is what counts. He has to taste it and decide, do you distill it twice, do you use the column still. What suits the particular fruit better. Here you can also fiddle a lot, how to distill it best. And third, the palate is important in separating the heads and the tails so it's a perfect fit." Gerhard adds, "The passion is always to taste, refine and improve. And so we've been constantly tweaking throughout the years." Cuvée The two distillates of green and red Williams pear are set to drinking strength by adding spring water in a particularly gentle way. After the so-called "marriage" of the high-proof brandies with spring water, the red and green Williams brandies are blended. After that, the finished cuvée needs a month-long resting period so that the complex aroma can fully develop.