Tannenblut · Black Forest Gin
Tannenblut

A reader’s glossary.

Definitions, in plain prose, of the terms that recur across the Tannenblut materials — from hechsher and chametz to single-shot distillation, closed editions, and 770 Eastern Parkway.

Kosher tradition

  • Hechsher — A mark or certificate signifying that a food or beverage has been certified kosher by a recognised rabbinical authority.
  • Chametz — Leavened grain prohibited during Passover; the reason most grain-based spirits are not kosher for Pesach.

Tradition

  • Chai (חי) — The Hebrew word for 'life', with numerical value 18; foundational to Jewish gift-giving symbolism.
  • Tanya — The foundational text of Chabad-Lubavitch philosophy, authored by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745–1812).
  • Rebbe Dollar — A one-dollar bill personally given by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to thousands of visitors at 770 Eastern Parkway as a vehicle for charitable giving.
  • 770 Eastern Parkway — The Brooklyn building that serves as the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement; reference for the Rebbe Bottle No. 770.

Distilling

  • Copper still — A traditional distillation vessel made of copper, valued for catalytic interaction with the spirit during distillation.
  • Single-shot distillation — A distillation method in which all botanicals are processed in a single pass; the inverse of multi-shot dilution methods.
  • Heads and tails — The early (heads) and late (tails) fractions of a distillation run, removed to retain only the clean middle fraction (hearts).
  • Botanicals — The plants — berries, roots, leaves, peels, flowers, resins — used to flavour a gin during distillation.
  • Schwarzwald (Black Forest) — A mountainous, forested region of south-western Germany; origin of a distinctive category of regional gins.

Collector

  • Closed edition — A production run whose total bottle count is fixed and announced in advance, with no successor edition planned.
  • Allocation list — A private registry through which a closed-edition producer assigns individual bottles to collectors, in lieu of retail.
  • Engraved bottle numbering — A method of marking the unique edition number directly onto the glass of the bottle, rather than printing it on a removable label.
  • Certificate of origin — A signed document that accompanies a collector bottle, attesting to its production conditions, certification authority, and unique number.
  • Provenance — The documented chain of ownership, production, and certification that establishes a collector object's identity over time.