About the Producer
Beaver Pond is a small distillery from central Massachusetts that specializes in producing brandy especially unaged eau-de-vie and aged apple, grape and peach brandies. There aren’t many details on the distillery out there and it doesn’t look like they typically allow visitors. What I did find out is that they source the majority of their fruit from MA with some, like apricot and cherries, from upstate NY. The distillery was started and is operated by a guy named Jerry Friedman, a former immigration lawyer who started the distillery as a second career.
Even though they fly under the radar, I’ve seen them in a few stores in the Boston area and decided to get a few bottles. Their distillate is quite good so give them a chance if you’re in the area.
Details
• Not aged in oak. Not know if aged in neutral containers.
• Nade from quince grown in Vermont.
• Distilled on 50 gal pot still from Germany.
• 40% abv.
• Uses added sugar to kick-start fermentation.
Nose
Ok I’m a bit at a disadvantage here because quite frankly I don’t know what a quince tastes likes. Either way this brandy smells like pear and spearmint. Very fresh smelling. Light sweetness; a bit of an artificial quality to it.
Palate
Very Light in flavor and body. Oddly spearmint is the biggest note here but pear is still pretty noticeable. Some astringency. Too light and delicate. Not bad but not good.
Finish
Very short. Not enough staying power to give notes.
Rating: 4
Overall
Weakest of the stuff I’ve had from Beaver Pond. Kind of odd that spearmint was the biggest flavor for me but maybe that’s just what quince tastes like, I have no idea! Either way it wasn’t bad but just too weak.
1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite
10 | Perfect | Perfect
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