Ebbe & Flut Aquavit
Alt Reddevitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
- ABV
- 38%
- Base spirit
- Wheat
- Color
- Gold
- Style
- Barrel-Aged Aquavit
- Maturation
- Used cask
Ebbe & Flut Aquavit is a barrel-aged German aquavit produced in Alt Reddevitz on the island of Rügen by Störtebeker Brennerei GmbH. Bottled at 38% vol. in a 500 ml format, it is based on Weizenkorn, a grain spirit made entirely from wheat, flavoured with caraway extracts and other spices. The aquavit then matures for several months in former whisky casks before bottling.
Retail descriptions characterize the aquavit as mildly spicy, with caraway accompanied by wood and whisky-derived notes, and recommend it well chilled as a digestif. The name Ebbe & Flut means “Ebb & Flow”, reflecting the brand’s strong maritime identity. The producer explicitly links its spirits to the sea, tides and northern German coast.
Ebbe & Flut Aquavit also appears to continue an older aquavit tradition at the same Alt Reddevitz distillery. Before the operation became Störtebeker Brennerei, the family-run Mönchguter Hofbrennerei “Zur Strandburg” produced Kliesow’s Aquavit, likewise bottled at 38% vol. and described as a barrel-aged Kornbrand with caraway. The two products share the same production site, strength, Kornbrand base, caraway character and cask maturation, suggesting a possible continuity between them. However, no source has yet been found that confirms a direct renaming or an unchanged recipe.
About the producer
Störtebeker Brennerei GmbH
Alt Reddevitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Störtebeker Brennerei GmbH is a distillery in Alt Reddevitz on the Mönchgut peninsula of Rügen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The present company continues the work of the former Mönchguter Hofbrennerei “Zur Strandburg”, established by distiller Thomas Kliesow at the historic Strandburg property. Renovation of the site began in 2005, and handmade spirits have been produced there since 2006. Kliesow formally opened the operation as a Verschlussbrennerei in 2007 after obtaining distilling rights and installing two stills. By 2017 the family-run distillery was making around twenty products, including fruit brandies, fruit spirits, liqueurs, aquavit and whisky, with mashing, distilling, maturation, bottling and labelling carried out on site.
The distillery occupies the historic Strandburg, a building that predates spirits production at the site by more than a century. Opened as a hotel in 1904 by Captain Karl Kliesow, the property was later expropriated in 1953 and used for decades by the Deutsche Reichsbahn as a holiday facility. It eventually returned to private ownership and, after years of disuse, was converted for spirits production beginning in 2005.
Well before the later integration with Störtebeker, Kliesow was already involved in whisky production with Störtebeker Braumanufaktur and had been experimenting with different cask finishes since 2009. In 2020, the former family business became part of the Störtebeker operation, and from January that year the Alt Reddevitz distillery traded as Störtebeker Brennerei. Thomas Kliesow remained at the site as master distiller.
The present legal entity, Störtebeker Brennerei GmbH, was registered in October 2019 at Alt Reddevitz 36, 18586 Mönchgut. Karsten Triebe is managing director, while Thomas Kliesow continues as master distiller.
Today the Alt Reddevitz site combines two closely related identities. Störtebeker is used particularly for its single malt whisky, while Ebbe & Flut covers a wider range of regional spirits, including gin, rum, herbal and fruit liqueurs, Kümmel and aquavit. Production retains a strong craft element: traditional stills are used, bottles are filled and labelled by hand, and the distillery uses natural ingredients, including regional fruits and herbs where possible.