Our process has purpose.
We want to do right by our brandy and distill it in the true spirit of Vermont agriculture. That's why we grow each and every apple that goes into Dead Bird Brandy right here at Shelburne Orchards.
The apples are the star of the show.
Each year, we grow and harvest over 50 varieties of apples in our orchard. Some apples are excellent for eating right off the tree, others shine in a pie, and still others are bitter and funky, but incredible in brandy. We press these apples in small batches extracting fresh apple cider drop by delicious drop. Fresh cider is sweet and tastes like, well, an apple. By the time all is said and done, each bottle of Dead Bird and Pommeau contains at least 30 varieties of apples and about 77 individual apples.
First, ferment. Then, distill.
To the fresh-pressed cider, we add yeast. This yeast ferments the natural sugars in the cider into alcohol. The result is a hard cider of about 6% alcohol.
The hard cider is pumped into our stills and we fire 'em up! As the alcohol evaporates, the vapor is diverted through a copper coil set in cold water. The vapor condenses into a liquid spirit. We collect this spirit drip by everlovin' drop. At this point the alcohol content has increased ten-fold to 60% (120 proof).
The art of barrel aging.
Next, the brandy is barrel aged for 6 to 8 years. We start the young spirit in new medium toasted oak barrels for 18 to 24 months. Each oak barrel contains about 215 bottles of brandy. This gives the brandy it's wonderful vanilla and caramel flavors. Then we transfer the brandy to older barrels where is rests for at least 5 more years. This slow aging mellows and smooths the brandy while retaining much of its original apple flavors.
Aging also results in a lot of lost alcohol through evaporation. This lost alcohol is called the “angel's share" and results in a smoother and more condensed flavor. Over 8 years, the originally clear spirit evolves into a delicious beautiful amber. Pure liquid gold! Dead Bird Brandy!
