When the art book publisher, designer and curator Christoph Keller sold his renowned Frankfurt-based publishing house Revolver five years ago and moved with his family to a farm in the western region of Bodensee, more precisely in upper Hegau between Stockach and Singen, he had no idea what he should do with the ominous “distilling rights” and the old schnapps distillery that came with the property.

Today, with his schnapps distillery Stählemühle, Keller is listed amongst the top 50 distilleries in Europe by Destillata and Gault Millau, is a two-time winner of the Goldenes Stamperl, and has been honored with more than 110 awards for his spirits in the past 3 years. As latecomer to the profession, Keller processes rare sorts of wild fruits in small connoisseur batches into distillation rarities, though he also distills classics like “Zibärtle”, “Ribisl” or “Türkenkirsch”. A choice palette of liquors, herbal and fruit spirits – all of the highest quality – round out the Stählemühle assortment.

In the framework of a 3-hour tasting, with slide presentation, sensory class, and tasting of 15 selected distillates, Christoph Keller will initiate participants into the world of fine spirits, the regional variety of table fruits and wild fruits, the history of distillation and its technical subtlety, and thereby show how the alchemical art of distillation is counted as one of the “Seven Arts ” – and thus not so distant from the practice of visual art.

Christoph Keller (*1969) has been publishing with JRP/Ringier in Zurich a series of artist books called “Christoph Keller Editions ” since 2007. His widely-traveled archive “Kiosk – Modes of Multiplication ” is housed at the Kunstbibliothek (Library of Art) in Berlin. Keller teaches at various art schools and is currently developing the “Schwarzwald Dry Gin” Monkey 47.

This is the closing event to the conference “Cultural Identities”, taking place at Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, June 25 – 26, 2010.

This event will be in German.

Participation fee: 40.00 EUR including 15 spirits, snacks und refreshments.
Registration is requested before June 20 at info@kuenstlerhaus.de.
Maximum number of participants is 25.