This year, Master Distiller, Christoph Keller, once again embarked on a special distillatory mission. You know how it is – botanical curiosity, a desire to explore new sensory territory, a knack for discovering particular aromas and, last but not least, an eagerness to stay in good spirits (feed the monkey!). The quest for the species rara, or that one special ingredient for our Monkey 47 Distiller's Cut, led us this year to where else, but the Black Forest. In the mountainous area around Wolfach, known as the “Moosenmättle”, grows an unparalleled abundance of meum athamanticum, commonly known as spignel (German: Bärwürz), a now extremely rare plant that has little in common with masterwort (peucedanum ostruthium), which is used to make the reputed traditional root spirits in Germany.