HALF MOON BAY DISTILLERY HALF MOON B AY For Ulli Bisono, it was an exquisite glass of pear eau de vie in her native country of Austria that lead her down a “crooked road” fraught with hurdles toward their opening of a distillery. “I don’t drink beer at all; I kind of joke that’s why they kicked me out of Austria, because it’s our national beverage,” Bisono says. “I do like wine. I was a wine drinker until about six or seven years ago, when we discovered this European fruit brandy through a family friend who is a multiple gold medal winner distiller near my hometown. I had this Bartlett pear brandy that he made, and it was like an orgasm of the nose. It was just unbelievable.” As a real estate agent, Bisono decided to use her expertise to start an import business, bringing European eau de vies to the United States. Bisono and her husband Caesar thought California’s food culture and large European expat population would make a nice market for the brandies. They bought a hybrid copper still in Germany from a premier still maker, and contracted with a distiller to create the spirits in Europe, but the red tape surrounding the importation of the finished product proved frustratingly complicated. The couple shipped the still to Half Moon Bay, and they were on their way to opening a distillery. December 2016/January 2017 59 ESSENTIAL SPIRITS ALEMBIC DISTILLERY MOUNTAIN VIEW A bottle of “amazing” Mendocino brandy launched Dave Classick Sr. and his family on a road toward a new vocation and way of life. Twenty years later, he’s the unofficial dean of local distillers, and his highly honed skills are much sought after in the industry. Back in the early 1990s, Classick and his wife, Andrea Mirenda, a high tech sales and marketing professional, were looking for a business they could run themselves on the side. After investigating several possible businesses that ran the gamut from maid services to Freon recycling, a chance bottle of Germain-Robin brandy led Classick and Mirenda to seek out the Ukiah-based distillers. A trip to France and meetings with master distillers there nudged them closer to opening their own operation. “We live in one of the greatest fruit- and wine-producing regions of the world, and we knew there weren’t many small-scale distilleries here in the Bay Area,” Classick says. At that same time, the popularity of microbreweries was soaring. “We came back and thought about it, and we said, hmm, microbreweries, what about a microdistillery?” They bought a copper alembic still handcrafted in France, and in 1996 opened Essential Spirits in a Mountain View warehouse. For those novices among us, an Alembic is a distillation device, deriving from an Arabic phrase by way of a Greek word, “ambix,” or vase with a small opening, referring to the shape of ancient stills. Classick’s distilling journey started with bierschnaps, using traditional methods of Bavarian braumeisters to use up leftover beer. He and his son, Dave Classick Jr., microbrew their own pale ale beer, and then distill it into a smooth, clear spirit which Classick describes as similar to vodka. Let it linger on your palate a few seconds and the taste of pale ale shines through. From bierschnaps Classick graduated to grappa, an Italian spirit, then to a pear eau de vie, then rum, vodka and finally, gin. Along the way Classick’s spirits have garnered numerous national and international awards, and his skill has attracted companies that contract with Essential Spirits to distill spirits under their labels. His outfit distills the very popular Tahoe Blue Vodka, featured in bars and restaurants all over Lake Tahoe, and the libation packs a charitable punch; a portion of sales go toward organizations protecting the lake. Classick also created a much-heralded gin for the Dunkirk label. Although the original plans for Essential Spirits included a storefront on Castro Street, Classick has no current plans to open a tasting room. He is content to produce the best quality spirits he and his son can, including those under other labels. Visit essentialspirits.com for links to online distributors of Essential’s bierschnaps, brandies and other spirits. VENUS SPIRITS ESSENTIAL SPIRITS ALEMBIC DISTILLERY
South Bay Accent - DecJan 2016
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