The Latest on KQED - Hangar One & St. George Spirits
My latest piece for KQED is up, and it's a story about one of my favorite local businesses, St. George Spirits.
Most of you are probably most familiar with their Hangar One vodkas, and if you've never been to the tasting room, you may not even know that they have some amazing spirits and liqueurs.
Treat yourself to an afternoon at the distillery, and enjoy the fruits of their labors (pun intended!)
*Thanks to everyone for your patience while I was experiencing display problems. As of 4pm Sunday, TypePad Support has helped me figure out the problem, and it's resolved.
I really like fruit eaux-de-vie and St. george's are excellent. It's too bad they dropped two early products, a quince and a kiwi, from their line--I suspect US consumers, who mostly don't know about alcoöls blancs, just didn't buy them. I really like their framboise--haven't tried their vodkas or grappa. They have some kind of link to the Germain-Robin people who make my favorite brandy (leaving aside some very old Armagnacs that I can't possibly afford.)
Posted by: john | July 10, 2005 at 01:13 PM
they have a magic way with raspberries, like they can capture their very essence in a bottle without making it too sweet. Very unAmerican, but very , very good!
Posted by: sam | July 10, 2005 at 03:21 PM
John - I haven't really developed a taste for brandies yet. But I have heard that the Germain-Robin is very good. I think they actually offer some of the brandies for tasting.
Sam - you are so right; they really do have a way with fruit, in general.
Posted by: Fatemeh | July 10, 2005 at 03:59 PM
Practice, practice, practice... there's a saying that all art aspires to the condition of music. I've never really understood what this means but I think it's fair to say that all distilled spirits aspire to the condition of brandy. Good vodka? Tater brandy. Good tequila? Cactus brandy. (There is definitely bad brandy, just as there's bad music...)
Posted by: john | July 10, 2005 at 05:04 PM
We toured St. George's a while back when they were in their old location, and I fell in love during that tour...and the tasting that followed. So delicious. It was exciting to see all the care and tons of fruit that goes into each bottle. I like to think of their Buddha's hand citron vodka as adult lemonade.
Posted by: Melissa | July 10, 2005 at 08:36 PM
I love St. Georges kirsch and their Pear William (it takes about 60 # of pears to distill one bottle!). He used to make a holly-berry (no, not Hallie Berry) eau-de-vie that was tasty (and pricey) too but the idea, and the bottle, were great. He is a fine addition to the SF food scene. Glad you featured them.
Posted by: David | July 15, 2005 at 11:07 AM
Hi David, and welcome.
I have to admit that I am not a poire lover, whether as a whole fruit or as an essence. The kirsch and raspberry, on the other hand... yeah, that's good stuff.
Ummm... isn't holly berry poisonous? (I know Halle Berry is!! Ha!)
Posted by: Fatemeh | July 15, 2005 at 11:20 AM
Please let me know about some brand(s) of Holly berry brandies.
Posted by: Angshuman Chatterjee | April 20, 2006 at 03:48 AM