As Seen on TV – Sporer Salzburg

My Mother-in-Law has developed an obsession with Rick Steves’ anything – televisions shows, guidebooks, Web site, tours, etc.  I’m not quite sure it is necessarily a healthy obsession, but the online library of his videos over at Hulu did help us plan our recent trip to Germany and Austria.  Without Rick Steves, I would have never stumbled into Sporer Salzurg.  Sporer has been producing and selling homemade schnapps since 1903.

I know what you’re thinking as I had the same exact thoughts.  A store dedicated to schnapps? 

That overly sweet liquor that’s served in shot glasses at wedding money dances.  That it’s supposed to taste like some sort of fruit but instead is so thick and syrupy and over sugared that I wouldn’t even put the shit on my pancakes.  That headache inducing libation that we used to have older cousins buy us in high school so we could pretend like we were cool and drank alcohol but now look back and are embarrassed at our ill-defined tastes.

Yeah, that schnapps.

Only it’s not that schnapps.  My eyes were opened to the fact that Dekuyper and Barton are not a sampling of what real schnapps is.  Once again, something good has been bastardized and cheapened for the dull American palette.

Real schnapps arelight and mellow with slight hints of fruit and sweetness that just poke through to say, “Hi!  I’m here.  I’ll just be hanging out.  Don’t need to be the center of attention.”  The schnapps we tasted at Sporer Salzburg can easily stand alone as a sipper on the rocks or in a brandy glass.

It doesn’t need to be combined with other liquors or mixers, but would probably go better than DeKuyper.  I hate appletinis for the fact that the schnapps traditionally used creates a syrupy, sugary mess.  But an appletini mixed with Sporer’s apple schnapps is something I would really enjoy (pinky out of course).

Sporer Salzburg sells more than just schnapps.

They also have an almost equal variety of fruit brandies, other liquors, wines, and punches.  Schnapps and brandy are the main players though.  Most flavors are offered in both schnapp or brandy form.  Or, as the bartender described, sweet or strong.  The schnapps are made in the basement of the 600 year old building and the brandies all come from local farmers.

Our first round was apricot.  She had the sweet and I had the strong.  This is when my eyes were opened to what schnapps were supposed to be – more of a sweet liquor for the refined palette.  College girls would not go for this stuff.  I did prefer the fruit brandy better though.  I like something with a little more kick.  It reminded me of a smooth grappa with an apricot backbone.

Our second round was pear schnapps for her and elderberry for me.  The bartender picked out elderberry because he said it was the least sweet of the bunch.  He was right, but I still preferred the brandy.  Now the pear schnapps?  It was a perfect balance of pear, sugar, and alcohol.

Our third round (we dug this place) was cherry brandy for her and a house blended liquor for me.  The cherry was barely noticeable over the alcohol flavor.  The house was their own secret concoction of herbs and spices.  It drank very much like jagermeister in flavor but tasted fresher.  The texture was also much thinner.  It was perfect for a digestif.  I bought a bottle as a souvenir, along with two other bottles to consume in our hotel room.

Beyond excellent handmade liquors, Sporer also has a lively atmosphere.  The tiny shop was filled with locals.  All were super friendly wanting us to try their favorite.  They were constantly grabbing the bartender to pour us a free sample of this or that.  Some were great, others were just as expected (lemoncello), and some were pretty gross like the butterscotch concoction with floating gobs of gelatin goop.

The bartender was a great tour guide showing us the way around the menu and offering advice based on our unique tastes.  Once I gave him a business card for my blog, he treated me like I was Rick Steves.  With his high pitched voice, rosy cheeks, and bright smile, he reminded me of a Christmas elf left in Salzburg by Santa to serve libations to adults.  Thank you Santa.

Sporer is a definite stop when you are in Salzburg. 

It’s right on the tourist trail on Getreidegasse, yet so far off the tourist trail in terms of local uniqueness.  Stop in to hang out with the locals and drink what they’re drinking.  Think of us while your sipping a shot of the house blend.

Prost!

Haven’t booked your hotel room yet in Salzburg? Check out the latest hotel reviews from TripAdvisor! We stayed at the Sheraton and really loved it! Great location in a classic setting.

What’s your favorite Sporer schnapps?