Andrew T Trembley

This weekend was/is the American Distilling Institute's Brandy Conference (apparently each year the ADI conference has a different spirit theme). It was hosted at St. George Spirits in Alameda. Most of the weekend was taken up by presentations and demos for conference attendees. Sunday afternoon, though, was "Meet the Makers," an open (well, $40) tasting event.

On the down-side... it only ran from 2:00 - 5:00, and there was no program book or listing of all the presenters.

On the up-side... there were a lot of presenters. Who was there?

Westford Hill Distillers had some beautiful eau-de-vie. Their framboise is very fresh tasting, with a really bright raspberry nose and a very delicate flavor.

Organic Nation was one of many certified organic producers. Their gin was medium-body, very aromatic. They also had Q Tonic Water.

Koval Distillery out of Chicago is also certified organic and certified kosher. We skipped the vodka and the grain spirits. Their rose hip liqueur is interesting and tasty. The ginger liqueur is absolutely divine, sweet and hot like a really good strong ginger beer.

Warwick Valley (New York) does some nice eau-de-vie, but their black currant liqueur is one of the best I've ever had.

Great Lakes Distillery in Milwaukee is interesting. They produce Rehorst vodka and gin. I rather like the gin. The lemon-honey vodka is good, but it's not one of the best I've had. They also produce a bierschnaps from Lakefront Brewery's Pumpkin Ale.

North Shore Distillery from Lake Bluff, IL was one of the outstanding presenters. They do a pair of gins that are superb, an interesting aquavit and a very subtle absinthe.

Templeton Rye from Templeton, IA had only one product, and they can't produce enough of it, but it's a very nice rye whiskey.

Rogue (as in "Dead Guy Ale") has gone into spirits. Their whiskey is very scotch-like and classic; a bit more on the malt side and it could pass for an Islay malt. They do a pair of gins that are pretty tasty too.

Peak Spirits does some interesting eau-de-vie (the peach smells gorgeous). Their CapRock Organic Gin is rough but very good.

Ballast Point Spirits in San Diego also did a really nice gin.

Bendistillery Cascade Mountain Gin was worth noting. Their Cofia Hazelnut Espresso Vodka was outstanding, though; it actually tastes like coffee.

House Spirits had their Krogstad Aquavit (with a nice star anise start and a great caraway finish), Aviation Gin (dutch style, light and strongly Juniper) and Marteau Absinthe (complex with a strong bitter character).

New Holland Brewing had a few products, but the only one we tried was their Zeppelin Bend Whiskey. If you liked the early St. George single malt with it's strong floral character, this is a good one for you.

...and from there we move to Bay Area distilleries.

St. George was there, of course. We didn't really taste their stuff, because we know it well.

Tempus Fugit Spirits is only kind of a Bay Area distiller. They commission and import absinthe distilled in France. They're the "Mansinthe" and "Vieux Pontarlier" folks. Their stuff is very good, but I'm not a real big fan, it's not really to my taste. They had a bottle of pre-ban Absinthe Deschanet, though, that we were allowed a sample from. Oy gevalt. It was amazing, with a sweet nuttiness not common in "fresh" absinthes.

Osocalis had a very nice alambic brandy, but I've got to say it was overshadowed by their Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard traditional port. Yowza, it wasn't particularly sweet and had a nice fruity acidity.

Stillwater Spirits was a real surprise. We weren't tasting much vodka, but they do a really interesting barley vodka that's not distilled up enough to knock out all the grain flavor.

Shadow Organic Vodka was there. It's interesting, with a bit more flavor than I expect from a vodka. That was one of the standard items of the day; "straight" vodka that had more flavor than absolutely traditional.

Loft Liqueurs had some really fabu 'cellos. Limoncello style liqueurs in various flavors, all of them superb. The ginger didn't have the bite of the Koval, but was still quite good.

Square One had some interesting flavored vodkas; their "botanical" was interesting, but the cucumber vodka was amazing.

There were also a few food vendors.

Marcel et Henri from South San Francisco had three different patés.

Rustic Bakery from Larkspur had all sorts of little cocktail cookies and breads. The really amazing highlight was their panforte biscotti.

There was a catering chef who, unfortunately, didn't have a lot of product. He had chicken liver and brandy spread on toasts, and a great smoked fish thingy on toast.

Most definitely worth $40. If the conference comes back to the Bay Area, and they have another "Meet the Makers" event, you must go.

Odwalla Pomagrand is so much better than the wimpy "Pom" juice.

No, we didn't protest today, but our hearts and thanks go out to the people who did.

K replaced his old phone today. He is having fun fiddling with the new one.

We joined super_jayhawk and others at Rabbit's Foot Meadery for a rare Saturday tasting. Tasted mead and cider, talked a lot, bought a case of stuff. I wish they were open a few more hours during the week; being able to get growlers of cider would be nice.

K wanted to go to a movie, so we went to A Quantum of Solace. The reviewers are right; the story is a bit thin, but it's still a great Good Hitler flick.

St. George Spirits in Alameda is having an open house on Saturday, June 28. Advance tix are $30. We're planning to be there. More details at the website, eventually.

SanFrazerac?

It's a Sazerac, but with local Northern California ingredients (except the Peychaud's Bitters).

Start with a cocktail shaker and an iced up glass. Yes, a Sazerac is traditionally served in an old-fashioned glass.

1. Put 1 tsp of simple syrup or a mashed wet sugar cube (C&H if you want to maintain the California purity to this level) in a shaker
2. Add 2 oz of Old Potrero Straight Rye Whiskey
3. Add 3-4 drops (1/8 tsp or so) of Peychaud's Bitters
4. Dump the ice in the up glass
5. Pour a bit of St. George Absinthe Verte in the up glass, swirl it so it's coated. Tip out any excess.
6. Ice the shaker, shake well and strain into the up glass.
7. Twist a bit of Meyer lemon peel over the glass to release the lemon oil into it, and throw out the peel.
8. Toast Fritz Maytag, Jorg Rupf and Lance Winters

...and scroll down a bit in that goofy little iframe. There's some really cool news hidden below the red arrow.

I'm going to be soliciting quotes from transportation (bus) companies for something coming up next year. Have you planned a tour, bus-run or other such thing where you've had to contract a transportation company in the Bay Area? What did you think of the company you worked with?

We're in Gilroy, at the Hilton Garden Inn. So are Spring and Dave, and we've got hospitality moved in. Kickoff at 10:00am in room 310.

Since the vintacon festivities are going to be starting earlier than we thought on Friday morning, we updated our hotel reservation to check in on Thursday night. You might want to also...