Tasting Fruit Brandy in the Okanagan

On a chilly autumn late afternoon, it was hard to resist the warm, inviting storefront of Okanagan Spirits, incongruously located in a rather industrial-looking area in Vernon, B.C.

Inside the distillery, I was greeted by a wave of heat, the smell of cooking pears and Frank Deiter, the president of Okanagan Spirits.

Deiter, who emigrated from Germany more than 20 years ago, has been drinking fruit spirits since the early ’70s. When he moved to Canada, there was nothing of the sort available here.

“My mom came to visit every year and every time she had to bring some pear or apple [brandies],” Deiter says.

Living in the Okanagan and working in the forest industry, Deiter would see fruit lying on the ground after the harvest and think that the waste was “ridiculous.”

“I was blind enough to open a distillery,” he says.

Maybe not completely blind.

Okanagan Spirits started distilling in 2004. Today, Deiter and his staff of two produce 35 products. Currently listed on the Okanagan Spirits website are eight fruit brandies, including two kirsches — one from sweet cherries, the other from chokecherries (my favourite of the fruit brandies that we sampled) — and an apple brandy called “Canados.” (“You’ve heard of Calvados? This is the Canadian form,” Deiter says.)

He also makes five grappas of different varietals; seven fruit liqueurs; an aquavit dubbed “Aquavitus” and “Taboo,” a traditional method absinthe.

The products have found serious success at the World Spirits Awards, with two bronze medals and 20 each of silver and gold won from 2005 to 2010. At the 2010 competition, Okanagan Spirits was awarded the status of “Master Class Distillery.”

It takes 24 pounds of pears (about 24 pears, according to Deiter) to produce each 375-ml bottle of Poire Williams. These pears come from Okanagan fruit growers — all of Deiter’s raw material is locally sourced — and represent the portion of the harvest that is unsuitable for consumers in its unprocessed form.

“You will always have fruit that is too big, too small, that has little blemishes from the branches. So that can’t go to the fruit market,” Deiter explains.

The pears are destemmed and ground up. Yeast is then added to start the fermentation of the “pear sauce,” as Deiter calls it. Fermentation takes place over two to three weeks. The pear sauce is then put through a pot still.

The still is the focal point of Okanagan Spirits retail storefront. Heated by a wood fire and constructed of copper and stainless steel, with pipes, gauges and a window through which you can see the thick, yellow-green liquid sloshing around, the still looks like the creation of a mad scientist, possibly dreamed up by H.G. Wells.

The primary distilling process pulls the alcohol (which has a lower boiling point than water) from the mash. The distillate is then put through a fine distilling process to separate out the “bad” alcohols, such as acetone and methyl alcohol, which will in turn enhance the pear aromas of the spirit.

The finished product is clear and colourless and so can be referred to either as an eaux de vie or a fruit brandy. It is aged until ready for market.

Poire Williams is available for $45 through the distillery and is also listed with the BCLDB and select Alberta liquor stores.

Prost!