Specialty purveyors of craft fruit brandies and brandy-based liqueurs, Stone Barn Brandyworks uses only regional fruit for their spirits. When it’s not the produce-yielding season, founders Sebastian and Erika Degens move their production more toward whiskey but fruit is the focus in the end. A native of Germany where his family made fruit brandies, Sebastian melds his inheritance with the abundance of unadulterated Northwest fruit. After attending a distillers’ workshop in Chicago in 2009, put on by German artisan-still manufacturer Kothe Distilling Technologies, the Degens decided to start their business with a custom-made fruit brandy-inclinded copper/stainless steel pot still from Kothe. For the Cranberry Liqueur, the Degens use sustainably grown cranberries from several family farms in the Cape Blanco area of the Oregon Coast, which has one of the longest cranberry growing seasons in the region, providing ripe and vigorous fruit.
The nose is brimming with spiked cranberries, like a bottled Cosmopolitan cocktail with a rosemary sprig sitting it the glass for a hint of herbaceousness. The palate has an intrinsic viscosity that is battled with sweetness and fruity tang, along with acid and a brandied fruit quality as to be expected. Given the time of year, Stone Barn provides bar enthusiasts with a recipe for their Cranberry Whiskey Hot Toddy to enjoy through the winter months.
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