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Fruit

Apples/Calvados

Cider was produced as a substitute for wine in many countries where the climate was too cold and damp to produce grapes and where there was an abundance of apples. Apple brandy, produced from the distilled cider has a long established tradition and the first official written references date back to the 16th century.  Normandy, in the northwest of France soon became known for producing the best apple brandy, known as Calvados.  This area grows approximately 800 different kinds of apples of which only forty-eight varieties are recommended by law for making the cider.  Calvados, a region in western Normandy just east of Rouen, is known for producing the best apple brandy. 

To produce one bottle of Calvados you will need about 28 kg of apples. Most Calvados is either all apples, or a mixture of apples and pears. Before aging Calvados is colourless, produces a burning sensation on the palate, and has a fruity aroma. The special colour and enhanced flavour of this apple brandy comes from the interaction of the brandy with the casks, which impart wood tannins and the air in the cellar.

It is possible to speed up and shorten the process of fermentation from 6 weeks to about 8 days.  A few days before you crush and press your apples select some good quality apples, crush and press these and leave the juice to ferment. Once this juice has started to ferment you may proceed to crush and press the rest of the apples. Then mix the fermenting juice in the apple juice.  This fermenting juice will help to initiate the fermentation of the apple juice that much faster.  You should mix the juice several times a day.  The juice should be placed in open recipients.

The first distillation will produce results with an alcoholic concentration of about 30%.  To produce Calvados a second distillation is needed.  The heads and tails are separated and discarded (see Basic distillation laws). The Calvados from this 2nd distillation has an alcoholic concentration of about 70%.

To produce one bottle of Calvados you will need about 28 kg of apples. Most Calvados is either all apples, or a mixture of apples and pears. Before aging Calvados is colourless, produces a burning sensation on the palate, and has an aroma of fruit and alcohol. The special colour and enhanced flavour of this apple brandy comes from the interaction of the brandy with the casks, which impart wood tannins and the air in the cellar.

Berries/Cassis

Cassis or Crème de cassis is a liqueur made from an infusion of blackcurrants. The best blackcurrants are considered to come from Dijon in Burgundy France, the original home of Cassis. They are the "Cassis Noir de Bourgogne” and “Cassis Royal de Naples”.

Crème de Cassis production is attributed to French monks back in the 16th century and it was prescribed it as a remedy for jaundice, snakebites and wretchedness.

The suitability of the chalky soils in Dijon and climate all contribute to the quality and character of Cassis. The ripe blood red fruits are at their sweetest in July when they are picked and sent off to local distilleries. The fruits are pressed and the whole mass is placed in large old oak vats filled with neutral spirits or brandy. A slow infusion or maceration takes place which lasts 2 months. During this time the liqueur acquires its distinctive colour and aroma. At the end of this process sugar may be added to this infusion, European Union specifications require a minimum 400grams of invert sugar per litre. The end result is a sweet rich fruity flavoured liqueur with an alcoholic volume between 15 to 20%.

Cassis may be served with white wine or champagne. White wine flavoured with cassis is known as Kir or “rince cochon” in Burgundy, literally pig rinse. One part Cassis is poured into a glass and topped up with four parts white wine. Another variation is Kir Royale, the wine is replaced with champagne or sparkling wine. Cassis should be consumed fairly quickly after opening as it does not keep for long due to its low alcoholic content.

This infusion practise lends itself to home distillation with some modifications. You could practically produce a similar liqueur with any berries of your choice. Allow your crushed berries to steep overnight in a neutral spirit and sugar. Using a small distilling unit such as Long Column Alembic) with an internal sieve basket you could steam the solid mass placed in the basket with the remaining liquid and by so doing extract additional flavours from the berries by the rising alcoholic vapours (see Orange liqueur recipe).

Stone Fruit/Kirsch

Brandy made from cherries is known as kirshwasser or simply Kirsch.  The most famous kirsch comes from the Alsatian-Loren, Daubs (Mouthiers), Brittany or other regions of France, Germany or Switzerland.

Any type of cherry may be used to obtain kirsch but not all will yield the same quantity or the same quality in regards to flavour.  The small black cherry will produce a more aromatic and rich kirsch while brandy made from red cherries will not be as rich as these cherries do not contain the same quantity of sugar or aromatic elements.

The cherries should only be picked when they are completely ripe so that they may be sweet and contain the highest level of sugar possible as this will produce a higher level of alcohol.  All leaves and stems should be removed as these may influence and alter the taste of the kirsch making it bitter. The cherries should be crushed with a wood press similar to that used to crush grapes.  It is quite interesting to know that when a press is not available men use wood clogs and crush the cherries with their feet in large vats. Care should be taken not to crush the pit in order to obtain clearer finer kirsch. The crushed cherries are then left in vats or recipients to ferment.  Just like grapes, these will start to ferment naturally and so there is no need to add a leavening agent.  However, fermentation may take quite a while to start and it may not be strong enough to decompose all the sugar contents. During this waiting period the crushed cherries may experience various alterations, some of the crushed matter may actually begin to rot and influence the rest of the batch by leaving a horrible taste.  To avoid such inconveniences, it is wise to add an activator which is prepared in the following manner:
Water ..................................... 5 L
Sugar ..................................... 500 gr
Tartaric acid............................. 10 gr
Ammonium phosphate ............. 15 gr

Boil the mixture and let cool until it reaches a temperature between 20° to 25ºC. Some leavening agents used to make wine (available in shops) should then be added to this mixture. Fermentation will start approximately 24 hours later.

Make sure the liquid is well aired and mixed several times to encourage fermentation.  In 5 days time you will have enough liquid to ferment 8 to 10 hectolitres of must. This fermenting liquid (yeast) is poured into the vats that contain the cherry must.  Beer yeast may also be used but the quality of the brandy will not be as good. Cherry must ferments quite rapidly once it has commenced therefore if no yeast was added fermentation will take 15 to 20 days to be complete and 8 to 10 days with the help of the yeast.

Only copper alembics should be used to distil kirsch.

You may use a normal alembic, distil with steam distillation or use the bain-marie alembic. Take care to separate the heads which are very sour and improper for human consumption (see Basic Distillation Laws).  The liquid that comes out next will have 50 to 55% alcohol, this is the kirsch.  You will continue to obtain kirsch until 40%. Below this you are collecting the tails.

With about 100 kilos of cherries (without stems) and a good fermentation you should yield approximately 12 to 15 litres of kirsch at about 51%.

Kirsch should remain colourless and should not be stored in wood barrels like cognac but in glass bottles.