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Edible Grande Traverse
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Clear Creek Eau de Vie of Mirabelle Plum
Clear Creek Eau de Vie of Mirabelle Plum
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Our favorite Alsatian eau de vie is the Mirabelle. We looked for 20 years and finally found the fruit at King Estate near Eugene, Oregon — wonderful, organically grown plums that make a great eau de vie.
“The power of the Clear Creek eau de vie of Mirabelle comes …from its ripe, heady fragrance, its penetrating plum flavor and its lingering freshness.” — Florence Fabricant, The New York Times, August 25, 2004.
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Clear Creek Kirschwasser
Clear Creek Kirschwasser
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Now certified Kosher for Passover. Fresh Wasco County sweet cherries are crushed, fermented, and distilled into clear, powerful Kirschwasser (cherry Schnapps) in the traditional German fashion. The flavor and great vanilla/almond “nose” come only from the cherries, as does the alcohol. As in all other Clear Creek products no colors, flavors, or sugars are added. Rivals the best Swiss Kirsch. Lots of uses in the kitchen.
F. Paul Pacult, author of “Kindred Spirits” (1997) and the Spirit Journal has described Clear Creek’s Kirschwasser as “delicate and serene… feline delicacy of cherry flavor robed in manageable spirit that plays like a string quartet…Highly recommended” and called it “absolutely delightful.”
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Clear Creek Blue Plum Brandy
Clear Creek Blue Plum Brandy
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
“Now certified Kosher! Blue Plum Brandy, known as Slivovitz in much of Eastern Europe, in France as Quetsch and in Germany as Zwetschgenwasser, is pot distilled from a pure fermented mash of Italian Blue plums grown in Oregon. We make it much as it has been made in Europe for centuries, but the result is smoother, more aromatic, and more sophisticated than any European Blue Plum Brandy. Makes a great sorbet. This keeps winning the Gold medal at the annual U.S. Slivovitz competition — even when we don’t enter.”
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Clear Creek Apple Brandy (apple in bottle)
Clear Creek Apple Brandy (apple in bottle)
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
We produce an Apple-in-the-Bottle in addition to our Pear-in-the-Bottle. Golden Delicious apples are grown inside the bottle and brought back to the distillery where, after cleaning, we fill the bottle with Clear Creek apple brandy. If you have ever participated in apple bobbing, you know that, unlike pears, apples float!
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Clear Creek White Label Apple Brandy (aged 2 years)
Clear Creek White Label Apple Brandy (aged 2 years)
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
This is the same as the eau de vie de pomme, but aged only two years in Limousin oak. This is the one you use to make fruitcake, to deglaze a pan-fried steak, for the recipe that calls for Calvados, in some dandy apple brandy cocktails and wherever “applejack” is called for. Great in a wintertime toddy too. A great bargain.
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Clear Creek Eau de Vie de Pomme, aged 8 years
Clear Creek Eau de Vie de Pomme, aged 8 years
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
“A very worthy competitor to the best Calvados. We crush and ferment the whole Golden Delicious apples from Oregon and Washington, and distill. Following the customs of the Calvados makers of Normandy, the high-proof apple spirit is aged at least eight years in old Cognac barrels made of Limousin oak. The result is a beautiful amber brandy with a remarkable amount of apple in the nose, but with the sophistication and complexity gained from all those years in oak. This has a lot of appeal to the traditional brandy drinker as well.”
F. Paul Pacult at “Kindred Spirits” wrote of this product: “Aged in Limousin oak casks from France; pale straw yellow/apple juice hue; the nose is so delicate as to be feminine in its bearing — the notes of grass, apple, and spice are neither sweet nor tart, just ethereal in the first three passes-by the last nosing, the spice/apple-peel components shift into high gear, creating a heavenly aroma of succulent fruit that took my breath away. In the mouth, the grace noted in the bouquet grows into regal elegance as the apple element becomes more clearly defined at midpalate — just prior to the aftertaste, the tart green apple is mesmerizing. The finish is long, but very soft and appley. This is Stephen McCarthy’s best all-around distilling effort and must be considered an American classic. RATING *****. Highly Recommended.”
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Clear Creek Pear Brandy (pear in bottle)
Clear Creek Pear Brandy (pear in bottle)
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
In addition to our pear eau de vie, we do a special bottling of pear-in-the-bottle. To make pear-in-the-bottle we actually grow the pear inside of the bottle in our orchards, and then fill it with our pear eau de vie. This practice of growing pears in the bottle is traditional in Alsace where pear brandy has been made for hundreds of years. Pear-in-the-bottle is highly labor intensive, requiring weeks of work putting the bottles on the trees in late May when the small pear will still fit in the neck of the bottle, tending them all summer, and picking them in late August. Since we use no preservatives or artificial cleaning solutions, each pear and each bottle must be painstakingly scrubbed by hand before we fill with our pear eau de vie for which we are known worldwide. Due to the unpredictable nature of pear growth from year to year the pear in the bottle is only available certain years.
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Clear Creek Pear Brandy
Clear Creek Pear Brandy
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
This is classic eau de vie de poire. We use Williams (Bartlett) pears from our own orchards in Parkdale, Oregon. We crush and ferment the whole pear and then distill the pure fruit mash in our German-made pot stills. It takes about 30 pounds of pears to make one 750ml bottle of Pear Brandy. This is still our best product and our best seller. The pear nose is intense, the taste is strong, but pure, and the aftertaste is clean with a surprisingly strong hint of pear. In warmer parts of the country and in the summer, it should be served chilled.
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