Apple Brandy
Brandy is a type of wine made from a fermented mash of grapes or any other fresh fruit. The apple brandy is a type of brandy which is distilled from fresh apple juice. The brandy also maintains the sweet flavor and the aroma of the fruit. It is usually made during the peak harvesting period of apples that is in the early September to mid November.
The process of making the brandy is very complex and uses different technologies like breaking, separation, fermentation, distillation, flavoring, aging and artificial freezing. Thus as a final product, we get a strong wine of high quality.
Apples of the best qualities are selected carefully for making the brandy. They are washed properly and are then pressed into pure and sweet apple juice. This sweet and fresh juice is then transferred into a huge fermentation tank.
In this tank, the juice is allowed to ferment naturally without the use of yeasts cultures or starters. The fermentation process takes a long time period of nearly thirty days to convert the sugars in the juice into the alcohol form. This fermented juice is then preceded further to the distillation section. Here the juice is vaporized and the again made to undergo re-condensation thus increasing the proof value to approximately 160 proof. This proof value assures that the maximum flavor and aroma is maintained in this distilled brandy.
The fresh distilled brandy is then cut to approximately 130 proofs by adding pure water. These distillates are then transferred into 50 gallon charred oak barrels and are retained for aging. It is a common principle which is believed by all that the oldest drinks is considered as the best in taste. Generally all brandies are aged for about four to eight years. The long period of aging gradually enhances the natural flavor and aroma of the apples.
During the aging period, the brandy is checked regularly for its taste and aroma. This is done to assure that good quality and high standards of the brandy are maintained till the end procedure of bottling. The brandy in the barrels is then bottled carefully for sale or for export to the various countries.
All straight apple brandies are usually 100 proofs which range from older brandy inventories and range from six to ten years in age.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 9:22 am and is filed under Brandy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.