'Bauman's on Oak St' - Hawthorn & Quince Brandy

$25.00
sold out

A unique brandy released in honor of the 1st Anniversary of Bauman's Oak St. This brandy was distilled primarily from Hawthorn fruit which I picked from the trees surrounding the Portland cidery. There was a small amount of Chinese, Japanese, and regular ol' Quince added to the ferment, all fruit I got off the display tables at Bauman's QuinceFest. Hawthorn and Quince both have notoriously small yields (each bottle took about 10 pounds of fruit) but the resultant brandy is dense and complex, with lush quince aromatics on the nose and the persistent yet mysterious flavor of Hawthorn on the palate. Bottled unfiltered at 46% abv with a hand-printed linocut label, just 15 x 200ml bottles available for purchase ($25). 

A unique brandy released in honor of the 1st Anniversary of Bauman's Oak St. This brandy was distilled primarily from Hawthorn fruit which I picked from the trees surrounding the Portland cidery. There was a small amount of Chinese, Japanese, and regular ol' Quince added to the ferment, all fruit I got off the display tables at Bauman's QuinceFest. Hawthorn and Quince both have notoriously small yields (each bottle took about 10 pounds of fruit) but the resultant brandy is dense and complex, with lush quince aromatics on the nose and the persistent yet mysterious flavor of Hawthorn on the palate. Bottled unfiltered at 46% abv with a hand-printed linocut label, just 15 x 200ml bottles available for purchase ($25). 

Hawthorn, a distant relative of the apple, is a name used for many different species but most make a sour, bitter, mealy fruit with low sugar content. It is occasionally distilled in the countries where they take brandy seriously, like Austria and Germany. As one brand says "this not for beginners but for fine brandy specialists who are looking for something unusual and special". It is hard to describe but characterized by a persistent, complex fruity/spicy flavor and a hard texture bordering on bitterness, similar to some grappa.

The LONG story: Last November, on a trip to collect some educational display medlars, I had the good fortune to be shown around the magical OSU's Germplasm orchard by Ryan King. In late November about the only things still on the trees are the weirdos, hawthorn, medlar, quince. Shortly after that I had the pleasure of pouring some Quince Brandy at Bauman's first QuinceFest. With my eye now keyed up, I couldn't help but notice the beautiful laden surrounding the cider. With Christine's permission I spent a good long time on a ladder picking'em and ended up with enough fruit to produce approximately no brandy so I added about 25% Quince I'd gotten from QuinceFest and kept in passerillage, sorting each day and processing them as they became ripe. The low sugar content necessitated double distillation and the small batch size meant borrowing a very small copper alembic for the final spirit distillation, which was a slow process but a fun deviation from my typical process. The labels are linocut prints done by me, I've never done one before and I would say I am a lot better at distilling than printing but its the thought that counts.