PBMichiganWolverine
St. George California Reserve Apple Brandy (2019 Release)
American Brandy — California, USA
Reviewed
November 1, 2020 (edited August 26, 2023)
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.
50.0
USD
per
Bottle
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@ContemplativeFox McKenzie’s bourbon and rye are really good, and I believe they do make a malt—Pure Pot still whiskey, with locally grown barley
@PBMichiganWolverine Huh, I didn't know that McKenzie had a malt! I've heard good things about their SiB bourbon though :)
@ContemplativeFox for American malts, I’d easily take a McKenzie, or a DelBac over St. George—-better and cheaper.
I would definitely buy one for $60 @PBMichiganWolverine . $90 seems a bit steep though. They're some of the better American single malts, but there are lots of great alternatives at $90 and up. And, as you say, even getting it at the $90 to $110 range requires hunting.
@ContemplativeFox @cascode their single malts are good...but honestly, not great, where we have to go hunting for higher prices. Here in NJ, it’s about $90-110. I had some of their early ones ( lot 12, I think)...back then was $55-60
@cascode Their single malts aren't terribly hard to find in the states, but most sellers are unfortunately charging secondary prices (USD150-250), so I can understand why they haven't made it down to you.
@PBMichiganWolverine No, I've never seen it and no-one seems to list it. I guess we only get their gin :-(
@PBMichiganWolverine. Sounds great! I have a few I think you'll be interested in as well.
@ContemplativeFox for me personally, the Baller was just too funky. That rice wine finishing added a sour note, was really disappointed in it. Trying it once was fine, but I’d struggle to finish a bottle.
@PBMichiganWolverine Wow, the price has really gone up! $50 still seems like a good deal though. Thanks also for your comment about Baller - I'd been thinking about looking out for that one, but it sounds less appealing now.
@jonwilkinson7309 btw—-I can send a pour of this along with the 2020 Talisker special release next time
@cascode do you guys have their Singke malts? Those are really good as well
@ContemplativeFox yeah—-it’s actually $50 for a full bottle. When I bought it, 2 years ago, it was $30. But I did a price check last night, showing up as $50
@jonwilkinson7309 I wasn’t a fan of Baller...was just too weird for me. But, it was designed to be a baller cocktail, not have it neat anyway.
Is that just $50 for a whole 750ml? If so, I'll need to drop by and see if they have any next time I'm in the area. Their American single malt and Breaking & Entering Bourbon were both great (too bad the B&E American whiskey is the only whiskey that seems to be readily available now).
@PBMichiganWolverine Sounds delish, and we may actually get this over here. St George has good distribution in Australia for some reason.
Very interesting. I've been curious about the Baller Single Malt, but haven't done any research about the distillery. Until now - open since 1982; they currently have a couple of dozen spirits. And the brandies seem to be among the best rated.