Glossary · Culture
Obstler
German. Kept in its own language here rather than translated into the nearest English word, because the nearest English word is usually cut on a different axis.
Also written Obstbrand, Schnaps. Each is a name for the same thing, which is why none of them has an entry of its own.
Definition
A clear fruit spirit of the German-speaking Alps and their foothills, distilled from apples and pears — often the same orchard fruit that supplies Most.
- Subject
- Culture
- Language
- German
- Also written
- Obstbrand, Schnaps
In more detail
Obstler completes the use of a Streuobst orchard’s crop: sound fruit to juice and Most, the remainder to the still. It is usually unaged and bottled at around 40 per cent alcohol, and it is a farm product in the same sense that cider brandy is.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Cider
Most
In German-speaking Europe, either fresh fruit juice or the fermented drink made from it. Which one it means is settled by the country you are standing in, and in Austria it is settled by statute.
Perry
Mostbirne
A pear cultivar grown for must rather than for eating in Austria, Switzerland and southern Germany — the central European counterpart of a perry pear.
Culture
Streuobstwiese
A central European traditional orchard: widely spaced standard fruit trees of mixed species and variety scattered over grassland that is grazed or cut for hay.
Cider
Cider brandy
A spirit distilled from cider, aged in wood or sold unaged. Calvados is the protected French form; England, the United States and Spain each have their own traditions.
Milling and pressing
Marc
French for pressed pomace, and by extension the spirit distilled from it. *Marc de cidre* and *marc de pomme* are pomace brandies distinct from Calvados, which is distilled from cider itself.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
- Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
- Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
Hochschule Geisenheim University — beverage technology
Hochschule Geisenheim · university · retrieved 2026-08-24
German beverage-technology research covering apple wine and fruit juice processing, including the enzymology of clarification.