Artisan Home Distilling

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Offering guests a glass of
Offering guests a glass of "eau de vie" is an ancient custom. 
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A small alembic pot still can distill alcohol from fruit wines. 
A small alembic pot still can distill alcohol from fruit wines. 
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Sweet Mirabelle plums are good for jams and tarts as well as making into wine to distill into brandy. Two main cultivars are 'Nancy' and 'Metz.'
Sweet Mirabelle plums are good for jams and tarts as well as making into wine to distill into brandy. Two main cultivars are 'Nancy' and 'Metz.'
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Small oaken casks such as this one are relatively inexpensive, usually starting at less than $50. 
Small oaken casks such as this one are relatively inexpensive, usually starting at less than $50. 
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European tradition has given
European tradition has given "eau de vie" made from differety types of fruit different names: poire is pear, framboise is raspberry and mirabelle is made from plums.

Well into the 1800s, homes in both Europe and North America had a “still room” where the woman of the house used a pot still to transform herbs and flowers into medicines and perfumes. Farms also had equipment for distilling fermented grain into liquor, or fruit wine into eau de vie.

Even today, it is impossible to travel in much of the European countryside without being welcomed with shots of home-distilled spirits, including plum brandy or eau de vie, called slivovitz in Eastern Europe and mirabelle in France.

What Is Eau de Vie?

“Strictly speaking, any distilled spirit is an eau de vie,” said the late food authority R.W. Apple in The New York Times in 1998. “Cognac is an eau de vie made from [grape] wine; Calvados is an eau de vie made from [apple] cider. Scotch whisky is an eau de vie made from malted barley, and its name comes from the Gaelic word uisge beatha, meaning?—?you guessed it?—?‘water of life.’ But in practice the name eau de vie is usually confined to the clear fruit brandies that the French also call alcools blancs, or ‘white alcohols.’?”

Unlike other distilled beverages, eau de vie preserves the flavor of what was distilled. A whiff of plum eau de vie and you are right there in summer with a hot, ripe plum in your hand. Eau de vie is the only way to capture the aroma of ripe fruit. Jam doesn’t do it, and neither do fruit wines. Homemade eau de vie is summer memories in a bottle.

  • Published on Jan 14, 2013
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