Additional information
Bottle Sizes | 70cl |
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Origin | England, Somerset |
This is product is currently out of stock.
Somerset Ten Year Old Cider Brandy made at Pass Vale Farm in Burrow Hill near Martock by current owner Julian Temperley who has over thirty vintages to his credit. Somerset Cider Brandy Company was grated the first full cider distilling licence in recorded history in 1989. After four year battle with Brussels, on October 22nd 2011, Somerset Cider Brandy was granted European Union Protected Geographical Indication status (PGI). Apples have been grown for cider at Burrow Hill and there are 150 acres of orchards and over 40 different varieties grown. Varieties include Kingston Black, Dabinett, Stoke Red, Yarlington Mill and Harry Masters. The blending of these different varieties is the key to cider production and is currently the responsibility of Tim Stoddart and Julian Temperley. Apples are gathered in the Autumn, pressed and blend prior to fermentation in large oak vats. After three months the cider is then distilled one of two continuous Coffey Stills (two column copper stills from Calvados named Josephine and Fifi), with no additions made to the cider. The first and last parts of the distilling are discarded and only the heart of the distillation is used this is very pure, clean alcoholic spirit. The clear, colourless cider young cider brandy (at this stage an eau-de-vie) is then transferred into old sherry casks or new oak barrels from Hungary or the Limousin or Alliers forests of France for ageing. The Somerset Ten Year Old Cider Brandy is aged for ten years in a mixture of these barrels at one of two bonded warehouses in Burrow Hill village. It is in the barrel where the transformation from young spirit to cider brandy takes place. The spirit interacts with the oak barrels, some is lost due to evaporation (the angels share) and, with time, the brandy takes on tannins, colour, flavour and character from the oak barrels and becomes softer and mellower.
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