At St. George Spirits in Alameda, CA, their first crush was about 80,000 pounds of pears; in 2017 they crushed over half a ton. / At Catoctin Creek, outside Washington, DC, production includes peach —described as a true labor of love due to labor-intensive pitting and low juice level.

really made much of a dent. The return of pre-Prohibition like the Jack Rose and many colonial-era tipples, such as Fish House Punch which uses peach brandy, have helped stir some action. But we should not discount the modern RIPE FOR maturity factor: producers making the effort to harvest orchards and laboriously distill tree are taking their business quite seriously—and arguably making ATTENTION better brandy than previous generations. Quick Upswing Laird’s, whose first commercial trans- —A SMALL BUT BOOMING NICHE— action was in 1780, has seen demand PRESENT OPPORTUNITIES ebb and flow over the decades, but the current wave is showing real intensity. BY JACK ROBERTIELLO Lisa Laird Dunn, Vice President for the family-owned distiller, even notes that some of their products left the market n central New Jersey, famed maker Laird’s has or went into allocation in the last few been doubling production each fall for the past five years. years, notably the 100 proof apple bran- dy, because sales had such a quick up- Out in Indiana at Huber’s Starlight Distillery, new orchards swing. Now all Laird’s products, includ- I have been planted and brandy production has been increased ing the bottled in bond version, will be to accommodate booming sales of apple and peach brandies. back by the end of the year. “There’s definitely a lot of buzz sur- rounding American fruit brandies,” says It’s not a universal story, but a number production sprung up. Staten Island was Laird. “Our hope is that it will break away of American producers of fruit brandies home to the first brandy distillation in the have something to crow about as the New World in 1640. George Washington renaissance finally seems to be distilled not only whiskey but also apple getting around to the country’s first spirit. and peach brandies, the latterreserved as No, not rum or bourbon or even a gift to dignitaries and friends. moonshine—fruit brandy can claim to Post-Prohibition, however, fruit be the first spirit produced by European brandies lost their place at the table. settlers in the New World. Wherever Imported versions, notably French apple apples, pears and peaches grew, farm-level brandy seeped in, but never from being a niche product. One of the biggest problems is shelf position. It’s a brandy, not a fruit-flavored brandy and the average consumer is a little confused about the distinction.” Laird says even some distributor reps are confused about the category; she thinks retailers should consider creating American brandy sec- tions to help resolve confusion. Lance Winters, Master Distiller at the acclaimed St. George’s Distillery, Alam- eda, California, says things have changed dramatically in the years he’s been mak- St. George Spirits makes both pear and raspberry brandy. ing fruit spirits: “When I first started in / Apple harvest at Calvados Groult in Normandy, France. 1996, we’d crush about 80,000 pounds of pears a year and sold about 85% of what we made in Europe. In the 2017 harvest, last several years. Apple has taken off as we crushed over half a million pounds of our number one brandy selling product.” was a shock to all of us,” says Cooney. pears, and the domestic demand for our Growth, as might be expected from But she does expect a return to the pear brandy has been so great that it’s all such a small category that depends on longterm growth trend: “One of the sold here in the United States. That’s major urban cocktail markets, isn’t best things you can do is to get feet been driven primarily by on-premise busi- universal. Scott Harris, co-founder on the ground and an ambassador in ness as bartenders start to see real value and GM of Catoctin Creek in Pur- the market for the region.” in using flavor-forward fruit brandies to cellville, Virginia, and his wife, dis- The Calvados Pays d’Auge des- make delicious cocktails.” tiller Becky Harris, have produced ignation (made by Heavenly Spirits’ In Indiana, Ted Huber has been apple, peach and pear as well as grape Roger Groult and other widely re- expanding brandy production over the brandies for nearly ten years but the spected brands like Drouhin) calls for last three years, and he credits bartenders company hasn’t seen much growth re- pot stills and tends to be pricier, while the as well: “Mixologists have done a great cently. “There’s a lot of education needed Domfrontais region and the overall Cal- job bringing it out in front of people. in the category.” He admits. “We spend so vados AOC call for column stills that can Consistent exposure matters, which is much time telling people just what fruit produce a style less expensive and more why momentum has picked up over the brandy is because they don’t really get the easily accessible to novices. difference between brandy and .” Meanwhile, the latest episode of “As the Apple Turns” might well turn French Entry, Local Flavor our attention to brand new locales of Meanwhile, the largest volume apple fruit brandy excellence. Craft distillers spirit, Calvados from Normandy, had a are making their mark with local fruit; surprisingly bad year in 2017, according examples include Harvest Spirits Farm to Christine Cooney of Heavenly Spirits, Distillery, makers of Core applejack and who imports three brands. “There has peach brandy, in Upstate New York; been a bit of a rollercoaster ride but a Westward Hills in Connecticut makes general increase over the past 15 years, mostly eaux-de-vie, but also an aged apple and then last year down quite a bit—it brandy; and Traverse City Whiskey Co. BRANDY VS in Michigan has been turning local apples It is useful to underline the distinction into brandy for the last few years, and between fruit brandy and classic unaged aging it in bourbon barrels. eau de vie. The latter tradition is mainly Winters’ patience has paid off, so European, whose main purpose is captur- much so that St. George Spirits is maxed ing the essence of fresh fruit rather than out on fruit brandies. “Based both on our encouraging it to evolve in oak. Like in distilling bandwidth here and our ability , early American producers found to source fruit that meets our standards, that storing in barrels added desirable we’re at capacity right now for our fruit qualities to what could be raw and fiery, brandies,” notes Winters. “Educating the and most American producers still age trade and the consumer will always be the their fruit brandies in wood. most important aspect of what we do.” ■