Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

The Best American Brandy of 2018

By
New Deal Distillery Pear Brandy
Dan Baker/The Manual

The Manual Spirit Awards recognize the best damn booze in America. Across nine categories — Bourbon, Rye, Single Malt Whiskey, Unaged Rum, Aged Rum, Vodka, Flavored Vodka, Gin, and Brandy — we blind-tasted multiple products from around the country to determine our champions. Each of the winning bottles was judged on appearance, aroma, palate, finish, and how well the product represented the category as a whole. Our focus on smaller craft distillers in the U.S. allowed us to highlight spirits that, we hoped, our readers have not tried yet.

Best Brandy

New Deal Pear Brandy

Brandy is a spirit made from the fermented juice, mash, or wine of a fruit that is at least 80 proof upon bottling.  For a brandy to be considered a fruit brandy, it must be made from fermented juice or mash only, allowing for an addition of 20 percent by weight of fruit pomace or wine. Although many different fruits can be used, apple, grape, and pear are among the most popular brandies produced in the country.

New Deal Distillery Pear Brandy
Dan Baker/The Manual

New Deal Pear Brandy, produced by New Deal Distillery in Portland, Oregon, is made with 100-percent estate-grown Hood River Bartlett pears from the Pereday Orchard in the Columbia River Gorge of the Pacific Northwest.  From the first sniff to the last sip, this brandy is like walking through a pear orchard and taking a bite of the juiciest, freshest pear you could ever imagine. Not only do you get the sweetness of the fresh pear, but you also get the earthy beauty of the skin and the orchard around you.

Recommended Videos

The vibrant nature of this spirit helped it win out over the others in the category. It is 40 percent alcohol by volume and available in 10 states, the Washington D.C. area, Singapore, Shanghai, and online.

Related

Tasting Notes

  • Appearance: New Deal Pear Brandy has the slightest tint of ripe Bartlett pear flesh.
  • Nose: Smelling this brandy is akin to standing in a pear orchard. Fresh, ripe pear notes — the ripest pears you can imagine — mingle with an earthy, almost mineral-y core.
  • Palate: While overwhelmingly pear-flavored, the brandy exhibits other notes as well. Hints of oak and dried hay present themselves, but to a lesser extent. On the end, there are vegetal notes which make it seem like you’re actually chewing on a pear.
  • Finish: A medium finish, the fresh, sweet fruit flavors give way to some of the earthy, hay-like notes from the palate.

About the Distillery

Founded in 2004, New Deal Distillery’s motto is: “Made right. Made right here.” Founder Tom Burkleaux and then-co-founder Matthew VanWinkle set out with a simple goal: selling one bottle to a complete stranger in a liquor store. New Deal Distillery was the second licensed distillery in Portland (after Clear Creek Distillery) and produces vodkas, flavored vodkas, gins, liqueurs, and a whiskey.

How to Enjoy it In a Cocktail

Pear Brandy Sidecar

While many brandy drinks feature grape-based brandies, we wanted to find a cocktail that could utilize a base recipe but be altered to really highlight the chosen spirit. When we settled on a pear brandy as our Spirit Awards winner, we knew that the citrus of a Sidecar would be perfect. The addition of mint helps to highlight the earthiness of New Deal Pear Brandy.

Glass: Coupe glass
Tools: Shaker, strainer

  • 2 oz New Deal Pear Brandy
  • .75 oz triple sec
  • .75 oz lemon juice
  • Mint leaf

Method: Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a mint leaf.

Best Brandy Runners-Up

Best Flavored Vodka Runners-Up

Clear Creek Apple Brandy Charbay Brandy No. 89
Clear Creek Distillery Charbay Distillery
Portland, Oregon Ukiah, California
Clear Creek Apple Brandy
Founded in Portland, Oregon, Clear Creek Distillery produces a wide range of brandies. The base Apple Brandy is aged for eight years in Limousin oak, giving it plenty of apple and oak flavors. One of the oldest craft distilleries in the country, California’s Charbay boasts a brandy distilled in the winter of 1989 and aged for 24 years in Limousin oak. Layer upon layer open up over time.

Credits

Article by Sam Slaughter

Copy editing by Nicole Raney

Photography by Dan Baker

Video by Dan Baker and Riley Young

Art direction and page layout by Genevieve Poblano

Creative team: Will Hawkins, Hanif Jackson, and Chris DeGraw

Shot on location at Grand Army Tavern in Portland, Oregon

Editors' Recommendations

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
What, exactly, is a flat white? All about the tasty coffee drink
All about the flat white, a delicious coffee drink
flat white coffee

Espresso lovers who travel overseas may find a new world of coffee shop menu options not commonly seen in U.S. coffee chains. One drink popular in Australia, the flat white, has made its way to many U.S. coffee shops, including Starbucks. Yet most Americans do not actually know what this drink consists of. The flat white is a delicious, smooth, and velvety espresso drink that you might just be missing out on. Here's what you need to know about the flat white.
What is a flat white?

You can think of a flat white as a hybrid between a standard latte and a cappuccino. A classic latte is made with a shot of espresso, steamed milk, and foam on top. In contrast, a flat white is a smaller drink than a latte and is made with a double shot of espresso with micro-foamed milk on top. On the other hand, a flat white is larger than a cappuccino, which is made with a more equal ratio of espresso, steamed milk, and milk froth.

Read more
12 amazing types of pasta (and when you should actually be using them)
Swap your spaghetti for bucatini and thank us later.
Various dried pastas

One stroll down your local grocer's pasta aisle, and you'll be quickly, startlingly reminded of just how many pasta shapes there are. According to Italy Magazine, there are an estimated 350 different types of pasta, and about four times that many names for them. Needless to say, we'd love to cover them all, but an article addressing each and every pasta shape might prove a bit excessive.

The world of Italian pasta is an extensive one that would take months to dissect properly. We could spend days on gnocchi alone, and months on the beautiful madness that is stuffed pastas. Ravioli, tortellini, lasagna, and cannelloni are each individually deserving of their own articles. As it is, though, in the American market, there seems to be a bit of confusion around some of the more common dried pasta shapes and how they're best used. We've chosen a dozen of our very favorite, most commonly found pasta shapes to discuss here.
Bucatini

Read more
The ultimate guide to Lebanese cuisine, a rich and distinct food culture
After you read this, you'll be excited to cook this cuisine at home
Middle Eastern, Arabic, or Mediterranean dinner table with grilled lamb kebab, chicken skewers with roasted vegetables and appetizers variety serving on rustic outdoor table

The food culture of Lebanon is rich and resonant, reflecting both its Mediterranean setting and deep anthropological history.
Even those who have never trekked to Beirut — let alone their local Middle Eastern eatery — are likely familiar with a few of the staples. Lebanon, once a major part of the Ottoman Empire, is the birthplace of earthy dishes like baba ganoush and sweet treats such as baklava.

With its admiration for seasonality and a mix of breads and produce almost always accompanied by beverages, Lebanese cuisine is like the Italy of the Arab world. Whether you're munching at a cafe in Tripoli or just thumbing though a good cookbook at home, this kind of food is not only delicious and distinctive, but it welcomes an unhurried pace over the duration of many, many enjoyable courses.
The history of Lebanese cuisine

Read more