A gloomy morning morphed into a sunny afternoon for the Three Rivers Color Tour. At the Cory Lake Orchard stop is a miniature festival - besides the farm stand selling their fruit, there are baked goods, juices, honey and jelly, along with cards and artwork.
Going past the bins of apples, up the hill, through the barns and farm equipment to this back room - oh look, there's people in there...
(Click the photo for a larger view.) This is one for Hidden Treasures of the Midwest, which finds all sorts of interesting food items. Here in an orchard by Cory Lake, Three Rivers, brandy is made in a beautiful imported copper still from apples, cherries, pears and peaches from their own orchards, "from seed to sip". I'm not usually a fan of strong alcohol, but this stuff tastes of fruit and sunshine. Speck sized tastes let me try a variety; I liked the cherry (made from sour cherries, like traditional Kirschwasser) and the apple, which is aged in wood and has a dark color and intense flavors.
Jim Bickle runs the cider and brandy house at Cory Lake Orchards and entertained the crowd with descriptions of the brandy, the fruit, and the process. I came home with apples, a gallon of beautiful rose colored cider, an apple dumpling, and a bottle of cherry -- and a bottle of apple brandy. One will be a gift. Which one?
Cory Lake Orchards has a website, coreylakeorchards.com
4 comments:
How interesting! I've never seen a place that makes brandy. I don't think I've even ever tasted brandy...but your description of "fruit and sunshine" makes me want to. Thanks for linking this to my blog...I'm going to look at their website.
Sue
I haven't either. Most interesting!
Three Rivers - the sign had me in stitches. It brought to mind a line from a movie, "Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker!"
Forgot to add - I have tasted brandy - Cointreau is nicer. I use them for the Christmas cake and pudding.
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