Fruit brandy is made by carefully fermenting a batch of crushed fruit, then distilling the resulting wine on a pot-still. Using craft methods of distillation captures the rich complexity of the fruit itself. Unaged fruit brandies are also called by the French term eau-de-vie, “water of life.”
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GERMAIN-ROBIN Apple Brandy. A real delight: clean, pure, wonderful and complex combination of delicacy and great flavor. We're one of the few stores with access to this limited (one barrel/year), hand-distilled, and superb apple brandy. Depth, unusual length (Germain-Robin's hallmark), and lots of life, without the dead/rough quality found in most French Calvados.
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GERMAIN-ROBIN Apple Brandy XO. Germain-Robin has released small bottlings of apple brandy for about nine years. From the early distillations, here's a single-barrel of older apple, very complex, with none of the heaviness that so often deadens calvados. Of the 390 bottles, we have 180.
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AQUA PERFECTA Poire William (pear) eau de vie. Thousands of European jaws gaped when Jorg Rupf's Pear eau-de-vie beat out all those long-established distillers in the famous Destillata "blind" judging in Austria. Jorg uses Bartletts (called Poire Willam in Europe) from California's Lake and Mendocino counties and from Colorado's Western Slope. Fabulous, fabulous brandy - deep and buttery with hints of spice.
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AQUA PERFECTA Framboise (raspberry) eau de vie. Powerful ripe flavor and aromas from Meeker raspberries grown in the gravelled soils of Washington state. Jorg cold-ferments the berries with a pinot noir wine yeast. Intense, yet very, very soft.
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AQUA PERFECTA Kirsch (cherry) eau de vie. Classic kirsch, unusally rich and complex. EXTREMELY clean. Cherries are hard to distill. Jorg Rupf distills sour Montmorencies from Michigan (pie cherries) and he also does something unusual - he leaves the pits in when he ferments, which makes the brandy more complex and adds a subtle hint of almonds.
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AQUA PERFECTA Raspberry liqueur. The Aqua Perfecta Raspberry Liqueur has a spectacular rich ripe raspberry flavor & aroma, underlaid by the elegant Aqua Perfecta raspberry brandy. Unreal. It's won a Gold Star from Santé, Best Buy from Wine Enthusiast, and Five Stars from Spirit Journal. We suggest it in champagne, over vanilla ice cream (fresh peaches go well), or over French toast and maple syrup.
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AQUA PERFECTA Pear liqueur. Deceptively gentle – honey-like, silken, & fragrant pear.
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CRISPIN'S Rose Liqueur. Crispin Cain has captured the complex fragrance for 17 cultivars of heirloom roses. Freshly picked petals are infused in a mead hand-distilled from apples and honey on the antique Germain-Robin cognac still. The liqueur is pressed through a gold screen: the residue is rose petal dust! Here’s a review of Crispin’s Rose Liqueur from Paul Pacult’s Spirit Journal: “Black pekoe tea/rose-gold/tawny color; superb purity. In an unbelievable display of authenticity, the bouquet smells of a room filled with roses at their peak bloom and by this I don’t mean faux rose fragrance but the real thing; aeration rounds off the rose petal intensity, which allows for the beguiling pollen-like sweetness to emerge; one of the most unforgettable bouquets I’ve had in two decades of professional beverage alcohol criticism. Palate entry is delicate, concentrated, flowery, and sweetly rosy; midpalate stays the course, offering layer after layer of gentle stately rose taste. Ends moderately sweet, with a slight metal-like edge. Wow.” Five Stars / Highest recommendation.
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BRIOTTET Crème de pêche liqueur. Striking peach liqueur created from tiny semi-wild white peaches planted between vineyard rows to distract harmful insects. The richest peach you will ever experience. A French producer, in business since 1837.
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GERMAIN-ROBIN Creme de Poète. Stunningly rich, with dozens of interplaying afternotes. The underlying pear brandy was distilled in 1988. Over the years, little by little, Hubert blended in tiny amounts of all kinds of distillery exotica: infusions of dried and fresh fruit, macerations of nuts, plus some really esoteric ingredients such as sandalwood. It's beautiful product, drier than most liqueurs.
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GERMAIN-ROBIN Pear de Pear. New Release. Fabulous liqueur based on younger pear brandies. Rich and creamy, with beautiful pear aromas and mouth-filling flavor. Long gentle aftertaste.
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GERMAIN-ROBIN Absinthe Superiure. Former Germain-Robin apprentice Crispin Cain hand-distills apple-honey brandy using the antique Germain-Robin cognac still, infusing it with wormwood, rose geranium, lemon balm, fennel, hyssop, lemon verbena, star anise, and lemon peel. This transparent absinthe is subtle, complex, absolutely beautiful. Scarce.
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ST GEORGE Absinthe Verte. Lance Winters, distiller of Hangar One and one of the most creative distillers alive, has been working on absinthe for a long time. To Lance, absinthe is the pinnacle of the distiller’s art – a complex balance of vociferous botanicals that all want to be the center of attention. How do you get the ingredients to balance each other, to blend with and complement each other, so the final product is greater than the sum of its parts? Lance distills brandy with wormwood, anise and fennel, hyssop, basil, tarragon, lemon balm, meadowsweet, mint, stinging nettles, and other herbs. He infuses the herbs a second time to get fresher flavors (resulting in the green tint).
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GERMAIN-ROBIN Grappa of Zinfandel. Released September, 2004, 41.4% alcohol. We are happy to be back in stock of the favorite Germain-Robin grappa (they skip years when the grapes aren't good enough). This bottling was distilled in 2003. There's spicy fruit and a remarkably clean structure. An earlier version won a Gold medal at Monterey.
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GERMAIN-ROBIN Grappa of Syrah/Zinfandel. Fortuitous blend of two favorite varietals: lush fruit, precise Zin structure, deep Syrah presence.
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GERMAIN-ROBIN Grappa of Gewurztraminer. Lovely Gewurztraminer floral delicacy: ever so soft.
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AQUA PERFECTA Zinfandel grappa. Flowery & light, remarkably clean: distiller Jorg Rupf gets fresh pomace from noted Zin producer (& neighbor) Rosenblum Cellars. Complex and very true to the varietal.
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