Les Vergers Lafrance - a Multiforme Cidrerie, Vignoble, Domaine, & Distillateur

Perhaps our favorite craft beverage stop during our Quebec visit was to Les Vergers Lafrance, a multifaceted establishment located just outside of Saint-Joseph-du-Lac. This municipality is surrounded by panoramic mountain views, orchards, and a truly rustic countryside.  LaFrance participates in providing these orchards with their 30 hectares of 13,000 apple trees, 4,000 grape vines, 500 pear trees and 250 plum trees. And the apple trees are distributed among 20 different apple varieties.  Besides les vergers, LaFrance is a cidery, winery, distillery, maple producer, and restaurateurs.

Vignoble Lafrance is composed of more than 4,000 grapevines, particularly all shades of Frontenac  and Sabrevois -- both cold climate grapes bred at the University of Minnesota. LaFrance uses the grapes exclusively for the production of spirits. One of these is their Dandy Gin which is a fruit distillate made from apple, pear and grape eau-de-vie as well as our Marc de Raisins eau-de-vie. The botanicals consist of selected herbs and apple tree flowers from the estate orchards. Need less to say, this gin is quite floral, with less juniper but more citrus. 

The distilling operation started in 2013, when Domaine Lafrance acquired an alembic still made in Bordeaux by the Stupfler family. This family has been producing stills for four generations starting in 1925. Lafrance produces almost a dozen spirits and aperitifs as well as a range of ready to drink cocktails. We also purchased a bottle of the Quartier Lafrance - a Grand Marnier inspired spirit made from 50% Georges-Étienne apple brandy and 50% caramelized orange liqueur. Try to beef up are cocktail options with this surprisingly drier and complex liqueur.

Les Vergers LaFrance is also a purveyor of maple products available in their Sugar Shack. The maple products are made from the syrup from 200 Maple trees that are processed in early Spring during sugar season. 

Despite all these endeavors, the prime focus of the enterprise is cider where they produce close to 20 different cider products. This includes the canned Bio Sparkling Organic Cider and Bio Organic Rosé Cider that complemented the suddenly sunny afternoon picnicking in front of the Boutique. Another easy option was the canned Darragon dit Lafrance sparkling cider. And please try the Rick Special blend #3, an unfiltered sparkling brut cider that was fermented in ice cider barrels.  We didn't sample any of the still ciders, but had to bring home a miniature of the Domaine LaFrance Ice Cider. I would have brought full 375ml bottles of all their ice ciders, but was leery of crossing the border with a weeks worth of cider and beer. These are elegant ice ciders. 

Puglia's Padre Peppe Elixir

Was there any doubt that I wasn't going to purchase the Padre Peppe Elixir  ($20) when I saw it in the DM grocery store? This walnut liqueur has been produced since 1832 in Altamura, a city in Puglia southwest of Bari, and is based on a recipe created by Capuchin Friar Giuseppe Ronchi. It is produced by macerating green walnuts -- that have been stored our years in oak barrels -- in alcohol and then augmenting with botanicals. Some of these botanicals are baking spices that help to lift the sweetness and any bitterness to a lasting finish. Here's the Striccoli family's story of Padre Peppe:

 

The story of Padre Peppe begins at the end of ‘700, when Father Giuseppe Ronchi retired in Puglia with the desire of discovering, in Murgia area, in his woods, fields, water and rocks, a remedy that could heal the illnesses of daily life. According to the monastic tradition, he lived his life trying to help everybody find global wellbeing: mind, soul and body. In Puglia he found a way to extract medicinal juices from herbs and fruit. He also worked them with dedication in the laboratory of the monastery, where the monk could experiment with the therapeutic effects on his companion and devotees.

With the passing of time, a serious problem began to torment the apothecary monk (that’s how monks who worked and healed with herbs were called): storing and maintaining preparations until they would be used. He tried to store them for their medicaments and with time he perfected a healing extract.

According to the tradition, women should pick unripe wanuts that should be used to produce the magic liquor… Barefoot, they should also dance around the tree in order to instill vigour to the plant and to the people who will taste its fruits. Everything happens on the shortest night of the year when light wins over dark. Even today on that night we pick the green and unripe walnuts. They are processed and then stored for 4 years in old oak barrels where they release the same unique flavour of 200 years ago, maintaining the mahogany colour and the walnuts and underground herbs aroma. Striccoli family has kept with care and dedication the book written by the monk. In there he explained and codified all the formulations created in the laboratory of the monastery and the steps to prepare the precious elixir.

 

Thirsty for Small-Batch & Local Spirits with the Kozuba & Sons Distillery Quince Cordial

Throughout the American experience, there have been hundreds - perhaps thousands - of individuals immigrating to this country who then opened a brewery, distillery, or planted vines corresponding to the practices in their home countries. But how many have literally migrated the complete operation from their home country to the United States? That's what occurred with Florida's Kozuba & Sons Distillery where Zbigniew Kozuba and his sons Matthias and Jacob moved their Polish distillery from Jablonka to St. Petersburg. 

During the latter part of the 2000s, the Kozuba family opened the distillery in order to fulfill escalating requests for cordials that Zbigniew had starting infusing in retirement from a biochemist career. Soon they augmented their portfolio with vodka distilled from a  hybrid copper still and became the " first family-owned and operated micro-distillery in post-war Poland".   In 2012 they started distilling the first Polish single malt whiskey along with other experimental whiskeys but eventually discovered that "Poland’s highly monopolized industry did not have room for a small, family-operated craft operation". 

They then decided to move to a country "thirsty for small-batch, local spirits" and the most logical choice was the United States and St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District. In 2014, they migrated their operation to the Sunshine State including two hybrid copper stills, both hand-made by Arnold Holstein in Germany. One still is dedicated to vodka production, and the other to whiskey production. 

During our recent trip to the area for a brewery - baseball tour, I quickly ran into the distillery in order to purchase and bring home their Quince Cordial ($20, 32.5%  abv,  375ml). I have been a consumer of Serbian Quince brandies for a number of years and have noticed generally tropical aromas and pear flavors. Quince is a pome fruit, related to apples and pears, that when ripe is bright yellow and looks like a fuzzy, short-necked pear. As a raw fruit, it is too sour and astringent to eat so is most often used in jams, cakes, and rakija. The Kozuba & Sons Quince Cordial is made macerating whole quince fruits and then aging for several years.  No preservatives, artificial colors, or flavors are used in the production process. 

Drinking neat, the Quince Cordial shows excellent dense fruit, both quince and fig;  but the syrupy texture begs for a cocktail. I found The Quinclet online and it packs a wallop but my favorite use was a recommendation by Keli Rivers when discussing her book, Negroni: More than 30 Classic and Modern Recipes for Italy's Iconic Cocktail. She likes to order a cider, take a large swig and then top off with Campari. I replicated with the cordial and it works by augmenting the refreshing apple flavors with denser pomme fruit. Na Zdrowie!

The Quinclet

The quince gives the finished article a more rounded flavor than a straight gimlet, however, the lime juice and bitters lend a pleasing bite to the finish.

Ingredients & Equipment:

40ml Dry Gin
20ml Quince Cordial
20ml Lime juice
Liberal dash, Angostura Bitters
Lime zest, to garnish
Cocktail shaker
Ice
Martini glass, chilled

Procedure:
Pour a couple of drops of bitters into the martini glass.
Give the gin, cordial, and lemon juice a jolt in a shaker with a couple of ice cubes.
Strain into the martini glass and garnish with a strip of lime zest.
Sit down before drinking!

Don Ciccio & Figli and Sunny Sweeney Deliver Trophies

Washington DC is a growing spirits town with most of the new distilleries concentrating on gin. However there's one celebrating the fruit liqueur from Southern Italy's Amalfi Coast: Don Ciccio & Figli.  Francesco ‘Ciccio’ Amodeo, President and Master Distiller, grew up along the Amalfi Coast where his family has been distilling fruit liqueur since 1883. Sadly after both his grandfathers resuscitated the distillery in the 1950s,  a massive earthquake destroyed the facility in 1980. But in October 2012 Amodeo continued this family legacy by opening Don Ciccio & Figli in Northwest DC  specializing in bitter aperitifs and fruit liqueur such as the Don Ciccio & Figli - Fragola Strawberry Liqueur ($33). This spirit weighs in at only 25% ABV and uses only fresh strawberries with not artificial flavoring. The profile is slightly sweet, but a decent bite that's noticeable and without heat. I sipped neat, but my family created Prosecco based cocktails - use brut and not extra dry or dry.  

The Fragola's flavor profile reminded me of Texas singer-songwriter Sunny Sweeney, particularly with her latest release Trophy.  Her voice is sweet with a a pure country sound whereas the songs on the album are stinging and emotional. The signature song is the playful Better Bad Idea but more seriously there's Pass the Pain followed by Pills, Bottle by My Bed, and my favorite I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight. Written by Chris Wall this song is solemn but peaceful. Listen to the end as Unsaid showcases her strong vocals. This album should catapult Sweeney to the forefront of the County Music scene as is happening in the Americana world - it's one serious album.  Cheers to Sweeney and Don Ciccio & Figli.

Garofalo Artisan Liqueurs - Unique Liqueurs from Virginia

During our recent excursion into Winchester we missed a gem in Garofalo Artisan Liqueurs, a local spirits maker of various liqueurs such as "Night Life" Coffee Liqueur, Ginger Lime Liqueur, Tart Cherry Liqueur, Francesca Inzero Walnut Liqueur, and Father Ewing Liqueur. The distillery is a proud member of the Shenandoah Spirits Trail and was opened in 2013 by Dick Garofalo at the age of 73. Shows this plenty of life left after retirement. His signature liqueur is the Francesca Inzero Walnut Liqueur (named after his "bootlegging" grandmother) and made from walnuts originally harvested from a walnut tree near the house. Got to try this one next.


However, two liqueurs that I did indulge in are the "Night Life" Coffee Liqueur and Tart Cherry Liqueur, both purchased at my local ABC store for $24 and $28 respectively after taxes. The coffee liqueur is very smooth with an espresso backbone and subtle cocoa at the tail. In order to obtain this flavor profile, Garofalo uses ground coffee from locally-based Cabin Creek Roasters and cocoa nibs. The tart cherry liquor was my favorite of the two - reminding me of a drier version of the Hungarian Bonbon Meggy. There's plenty of tart, sour cherry flavors and just a hint of sweetness. My type of liqueur. Cheers and remember to use theCompass to visit the distillery.