St. George California Reserve Apple Brandy (2019 Release)

Rating: 17/23 N: A bit lighter than I'd expected. It's spicy with sort of a fresh apple character still remaining. P: Spicy for sure. I get cinnamon, ginger, and clove. Maybe a dash of black pepper too. There's a slightly light caramel flavor underneath some thing sort of like an envy apple mixed with a golden delicious. I get a bit of fresh tartness livening this up, but there's also a mellower, slightly bitter sweetness like biting into just the flesh of a rich apple. There's this interesting layer of subtle complexity that I can't quite place either, but that reminds me of Eastern Highland scotch a bit. It took me a minute to place, but there's a bit of that slightly molding cardboard that is so common in old scotch here. Fortunately, it lands on the palatable side. Perhaps the apples combined with the French Oak is creating a bit of a sherry cask character? F: The punchiness of the apple flavor is significantly dulled, but there's still a fullness and sweetness of apple underlying the experience that lingers a while. - Conclusion - This reminds me to a surprising degree of a nice Eastern Highland scotch. It doesn't have all of the core scotch flavors, but it does have that fruit and must to it. This is much less rich than Fremont Mischief Urban Foraged Apple Brandy, but it has sort of a lighter, less aggressive profile. Between the two, I think I prefer the Mischief, but they're both very good brandies. This one tastes fresher and less bold, but they do share that mustiness and fruity sweetness. I could be convinced to agree with the assertion that the St. George tastes more mature, but less rich and full. My personal preference in this case is for the Mischief, but I can certainly understand anyone going the other way. I went with an 18 for the Mischief and I think this is about a 17. Thanks, @PBMichiganWolverine , for the sample!

Autumn weather here in the northeast US seems to be the perfect setting for Apple brandy. Something with the crisp chill in the air and the colors of the leaves changing to robust reds, oranges, and yellows calls for autumnal fruits like apple. With that in mind, I opened up my bottle of St George. St George is a California distillery, and they’re known for making really top notch gin and whiskey. But, I guess they also make a few fruit brandies, like pear, apple, and raspberry. They make their apple brandy with local apples, then aged in French oak. It’s generally very limited, but also quite reasonable ( I paid $50). As far as brandy goes, I’ve not had many. But this is probably one of the best I can remember. It’s like taking a whiff of honey drizzled apples. And the taste...more apples with honey and cinnamon. It’s as if you cut a green apple in half, drizzle some honey, and add a pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon. Excellent. Highly recommended.