Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin is now one of the world’s most easily recognisable ultra-premium gins, but the Black Forest-made craft brand has never followed the crowd by latching on to the latest on-trade craze or social media-led drinks fad.
Since its launch in 2010 as a distinctly German gin, Monkey 47 has followed its own idiosyncratic path, bringing together British gin-making traditions, the spices of India and the rich provenance of the Black Forest with exceptional craftsmanship. The brand has remained inherently curious, obsessed with experimentation and keen to push the boundaries of what’s possible in gin production.
The annual Distiller’s Cut release exemplifies Monkey 47’s singular approach. Once a year, the Pernod Ricard-owned distillery embarks on a quest to track down what in Latin is known as a species rara — an elusive botanical capable of adding a new dimension to the gin without compromising its quality or eclipsing its signature Schwarzwald Dry Gin recipe: botanically complex, floral, spicy and citrussy, with a crisp juniper spine. While 47 botanicals already deliver an intricate, multilayered taste profile, the Monkey 47 team goes one step further each year, seeking out a rare 48th ingredient. The result is not simply another layer of flavour, but a new chapter in Monkey 47’s story; one designed to intrigue and enthral gin enthusiasts around the world.
Recent Distiller’s Cut releases have taken gin drinkers on some extraordinary journeys. The Distiller’s Cut 2025, for instance, was distilled with Fleur de Sel crystals, hand-harvested from the Camargue in southern France – a wetland region famous for its flamingos and shimmering pink salt flats. The result was a delicate, briny character that brought a mineral dimension to the final spirit.
Previous editions have been equally adventurous, with capers sourced from an Italian family farm providing the 48th botanical in 2024, while the 2023 release ventured even further afield, incorporating organic Canadian maple syrup from Quebec.
Monkey 47’s Distiller’s Cut 2026, the 16th release in the series, found inspiration much closer to home, selecting the fan-shaped oyster mushroom as its unconventional 48th ingredient. Long prized by vegetarians for its meaty texture and mild flavour, the pleurotus ostreatus may seem an unlikely botanical for an ultra-premium gin. And while oyster mushrooms fit neatly with the current interest in savoury, culinary-driven cocktails – with bartenders pickling and fermenting them to amplify their umami character – Monkey 47’s choice was not a calculated move to chase a trend.
“Monkey 47 has always followed its own path,” explains Francesco Ottaviano, Pernod Ricard vice-president of marketing for gins and aperitifs. “We’ve chosen an ingredient that by chance aligns with the savoury trend, but there’s a completely different story behind it.”
From stone cellars to copper stills
This year’s quest began in Baden-Württemberg, Monkey 47’s home region in southern Germany. Leading the expedition was the company’s founder, Alexander Stein (above), whose spirit of curiosity gave rise to the Distiller’s Cut tradition in the first place. The search for an as-yet-unidentified species rara led him to Ulm, a small city on the left bank of the Danube. Here, he stumbled upon Burgpilz, a gourmet mushroom startup founded by Jochen Rank and Sven Gastrock, whose operation is housed within the vaulted cellars of the historic Wilhelmsburg fortress.
It turns out that the imposing 19th-Century fortress is an ideal, sustainable location for cultivating fungi. Its natural limestone walls help inhibit mould, while the high humidity creates the moisture mushrooms need to thrive. The thick stonework also functions as a natural cooling system, removing the need for artificial refrigeration.
Ottaviano explains that, on visiting the site, Stein and the Monkey 47 team immediately felt a strong connection with Rank and Gastrock, recognising a shared commitment to sustainability, meticulous attention to detail and quality-driven craftsmanship.
Just as Burgpilz champions hand-crafted, sustainable practices in the cool, damp cellars of the historic fortress, Monkey 47 takes an equally exacting approach to gin-making. Its compact 100-litre copper stills are a fraction of the size of the 1,000-litre stills typically used by larger gin distilleries, while its botanicals are painstakingly selected, with many native to the Black Forest. It was, in effect, an instant meeting of minds: two artisanal producers working in tandem with the local geography, taking their time and employing patient craft techniques.
Integrating fungi into an already intricate 47-botanical maceration and distillation presented the Black Forest Distillers with an unconventional puzzle. “Bringing an ingredient like this into our stills was a leap into uncharted territory, even for a team used to handling 47 complex botanicals. We never give out exact recipe details — we like to keep our secrets,” says Ottaviano mischievously. “But I can confidently say the alchemy worked and the result is extraordinarily satisfying.”
The resulting flavour profile is a spicy yet elegant dry gin, with delicate hints of anise, rounded off by subtle nutty, earthy notes layered over a backdrop of remarkable depth. Crucially, the unmistakable character of Monkey 47 remains fully recognisable, enhanced rather than overpowered by the umami-rich 48th ingredient.
A serve as intriguing as the spirit
To mark the launch of Distiller’s Cut 2026, Monkey 47 has created a bespoke signature cocktail – the Bloody Mushroom. An elevated twist on the classic Red Snapper, the gin-based cousin of the Bloody Mary, it combines the spirit with beetroot, soy sauce and wasabi paste, adding layers of earthy depth, umami richness and a subtle kick.
The Distiller’s Cut 2026 story extends beyond the liquid itself to its packaging, which echoes the design cues of the original Monkey 47. The 50cl apothecary-style bottle and stamp-shaped label remain, while mushroom-inspired textures and earthy metallic finishes nod to the novel 48th ingredient, complemented by a more collectable gold-ringed cork. The bottle is presented in a gift box featuring Monkey 47’s distinctive signature wallpaper motif.
The highly anticipated Distiller’s Cut 2026 will launch in October across key markets worldwide, with priority allocations going to the US and China – two important growth markets where Monkey 47 has built strong relationships with bartenders. Yet, as Ottaviano concedes, demand for the latest annual release always outstrips supply.
In keeping with the distillery’s philosophy of doing things its own way, the October launch of the new Distiller’s Cut will be anything but conventional. From 6–14 October, fans can enter a raffle via Monkey 47’s D2C webshop, monkeykiosk.com, for the chance to win a code granting them access to buy one of the highly limited bottles.
For the on-premise, the big reveal is timed to coincide with leading trade show Bar Convent Berlin, which runs from 12–14 October and celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Intriguingly, Monkey 47 will not host an official trade show stand. Instead, the brand is hosting an off-site event on Monday and Tuesday, away from the convention floor. According to Ottaviano, invited guests will be rewarded with a unique experience.
With its limited production run and highly collectable status, this year’s Distiller’s Cut is bound to disappear almost as quickly as it arrives. As Bar Convent Berlin draws closer, the hunt to track down and try Monkey 47’s new savoury twist is officially on.
The Bloody Mushroom could well prove the star cocktail of the autumn season.
