Monkey 47 has been produced in the Black Forest at a distillery dubbed “Zum Wilden Affen”. Located at the Schaberhof just south of Lossburg, near the former site of a village called Vogelsberg. Black Forest Distillers continue to craft Monkey 47 following the same historic recipe as always – just in new environs. The company worked with the Markdorf-based coppersmith Arnold Holstein for more than two years on designing and manufacturing a one-of-a kind distilling operation. Assembled solely by hand using time-honoured methods and qualitative specifications based on extensive, shall we say, testing, the Apparatus Alembicus Maximus represents the beating heart of the “Zum Wilden Affen” distillery.

Measuring 160km from top to bottom, the Black Forest is a ludicrously lovely expanse of hills, lakes and forest, topping out at 1493m Feldberg. It reaches from the spa town of Baden-Baden to the Swiss border, and from the Rhine almost to Lake Constance. This corner of the country is made for slow touring: on foot, by bicycle or behind the wheel of a car on one of many twisty roads with sensational views.