With the popularity of hard cider and ice cider, one alcoholic apple product has been left in the shadows: apple brandy. But it is still being distilled in Vermont, and one maker has even opened an apple brandy tasting room!
In a converted storage area at Shelburne Orchards' doughnut and pie house, visitors can now sample apple brandy in addition to other apple products. On a recent trip to the orchard in search of doughnuts, Seven Days food writer, Sally Pollak, discovered the tasting room and proceeded to get to the core of the brandy operation with orchardist, Nick Cowles.
In this episode of The VPR Cafe, Pollak shares how Cowles talks to the brandy while distilling it, describes the atmosphere in the brandy cellar and tells us who else in the state is making apple brandy. Read more on this old-school spirit in her article, "At Shelburne Orchards, The Apple Brandy Recipe Includes Words and Music."
