San Juan Apples

Last week Dara, Calvin the baby, Chloe the dog and I boarded the ferry to visit Hawk and Suzy Pingree at San Juan Island Distillery. We stayed for a couple of days, learning about how they make their products and helping pick cider apples. (Calvin, to be honest, wasn't a very productive worker.) We met these retired agricultural academics through their rockin' daughter Haley, who's our friend, neighbor, and my former colleague.

In a spare, red-trimmed building just around the corner from tony Roche Harbor, the Pingrees work with their partner Richard Anderson to make Westcott Bay Cider, a tasty hard cider made from Richard's proprietary mix of apples grown just down the hill. Then they distill some of the cider to create an aromatic, award-winning apple eau de vie. And then, they age some of the eau de vie in oak barrels; the vision is that someday they'll produce a smooth, Calvados-like apple brandy that's worthy of Washington's apple reputation.

While they're at it, they make use of their gorgeous 200-liter copper still from Germany to create several other distillations, most prominently their Spy Hop brand gin, which has a delicious and unique botanical taste that comes not only from the more traditional juniper, lemon, star anise, cardamom and orris root, but also from some San Juan Island inhabitants like blackberries, wild roses, lavender and madrone bark. They make some brandies and liqueurs, too. My favorite is the old-fashioned lavender and wild rose liqueur...something about it makes me feel like a lacy flapper partying on a local lumber baron's yacht.

When we were there, Hawk and Suzy were experimenting with a Golden Delicious apple mash they got off the island. The still produced not only "heads," "hearts" and "tails" -- terms for the different components to discard or keep -- but also cozy warmth and an unmistakeable fall aroma. That was nice.

Did I mention that Suzy shakes up a mean cocktail? Yeah, this is a pretty cool couple to hang out with! Here are a couple of recipes she gave us:


RED SKY AT NIGHT
2 parts Spy Hop Gin
1/2 part lemon juice
1/2 part Lavender & Wild Rose Liqueur
1/2 part maraschino liqueur

SAN JUAN ISLAND 48
2 parts Spy Hop Harvest Select Gin
1 part lemon juice
1/2 part cider syrup (simple syrup made from hard cider instead of water -- clever, right?)
Top-up of Westcott Bay Cider

Photos: Dara Sahebjami