Peach Street Distillers Pear Brandy Named Best Brandy in the USA

Peach Street 2020 American Distilling Institute awards

PALISADE, CO— Peach Street Distillers was honored with a gold medal at the  American Distilling Institute’s 2020 Judging Awards last week, and with gold earlier this month at the American Craft Spirits Association Awards for best brandy in the United States.  

Peach Street’s Pear Brandy is crafted from a 100 percent pear base, with pears grown a matter of blocks from the distillery in downtown Palisade, Colorado. The pears are pressed, fermented, and distilled onsite before they age in French oak barrels for a minimum of 2 years.

Peach Street Distillers has now received 31 ADI medals in total. The distillery was proud to take home five medals for its five entries this year— a gold medal for Pear Brandy; as well as silver medals for American Whiskey, Colorado Straight Bourbon, and Smoked Rye Whiskey; and a bronze for Amaro.

The American Distilling Institute accepts entries in all classes and categories of craft spirits from small, independently owned distillers, blenders, bitters makers, and producers of aperitif and fortified wines. Each year, both United States and international entries are tasted blind and evaluated by expert panels of judges made up of distillers, journalists, bar owners, bartenders, retailers, wholesalers, distributors and importers. Learn more at distilling.com.

2020 marks the first year that Peach Street submitted spirits to the American Craft Spirits Awards, which honor excellence in the categories of Vodka/Grain, Gin, Brandy, Rum, Whiskey, and Specialty Spirits. In addition to a gold medal for Pear Brandy Peach Street also took home a gold for Colorado Straight Bourbon. A carefully selected group of more than 30 expert judges evaluated more than 500 entries for this year’s competition. Learn more at americancraftspirits.org.

“Our rickhouse is more well known for holding Bourbon and Whiskey, but it’s a great honor to win two gold medals in the same voting season for one of our more delicate expressions in Pear Brandy,” says Dustin Lemoine, Peach Street’s Director of Sales. “The local growers and the climate of Palisade, Colorado make it all possible. We’ve actually got a couple barrels of Pear Brandy that will be turning 6 years old this fall.” 

For more information about Peach Street Distillers’ decorated Pear Brandy, contact Emily Hutto at hutto@radcraftbeer.com. 

ABOUT PEACH STREET DISTILLERS

Peach Street Distillers was founded in 2005 in the heart of Colorado’s fruit and wine region, Palisade Colorado, where the high desert meets the mountains. The warm days and cool nights in Palisade make the local fruits and grains unimaginably delicious. Living the very definition of “craft” Peach Street does everything the hard way to turn these fermentable raw materials into extraordinary spirits. Peach Street Distillers is Colorado’s oldest independently owned and operated distillery. Visit the distillery online at peachstreetdistillers.com for more about the spirits and the spirits squad.

Laws Whiskey House Makes Waves with Release of 6-Year Bottled in Bond Four Grain Bourbon Whiskey on July 28

DENVER, CO— Laws Whiskey House is releasing a 6-Year Bottled in Bond Four Grain Bourbon expression of its award-winning Four Grain Bourbon. Bottles will be available at the distillery on July 28; participating Colorado retailers will receive bottles in August, while supplies last.

This whiskey was aged for six years, exceeding the minimum four-year standards of the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897. The 6-year bonded Four Grain Bourbon will replace Laws Whiskey’s 4-year version, which has been a popular staple in the Laws portfolio for several years.

“The 4-year bonded Four Grain Bourbon has been a personal favorite of mine, but with the release of the 6-year expression, we’re raising the bar and shifting the bonded Four Grain to an older profile,” says Al Laws, founder of Laws Whiskey House. “This version produces smoother vanilla and caramel notes and an enhanced black cherry flavor that you don’t get from the 4-year version.”

Featuring 100% Colorado-grown corn from The Whiskey Sisters in Burlington, and rye, wheat and barley from Colorado Malting Company in Alamosa, the 6-Year Bottled in Bond Four Grain Bourbon matured in 53-gallon charred oak barrels.

A Bottled in Bond designation requires that the whiskey be a product of a single season, using the grain of a single season, made by one distiller at a single distillery, and aged at least four years in a federal government-bonded warehouse. This whiskey is then cut and bottled at 100 proof (50% ABV). By making bonded whiskeys, Laws continues to uphold the highest integrity in the whiskey-making process.

The 6-Year Bottled in Bond Four Grain Bourbon Whiskey joins Laws Whiskey’s lineup of bonded products, including the newly released Bonded Centennial Straight Wheat Whiskey, bonded Secale Straight Rye Whiskey, bonded Two Grain Straight Bourbon and bonded Straight Corn Whiskey.

“Everyone at Laws is excited to present the new 6-year bonded bourbon with our friends, fans and extended village,” says Laws. “We continue to challenge ourselves to raise the bar on Colorado Whiskey as we improve and refine our craft.”

For more information about Laws Whiskey House or their 6-Year Bottled in Bond Four Grain Bourbon, contact Chea Franz at chea@radcraftbeer.com.

ABOUT LAWS WHISKEY HOUSE

Established in 2011, Laws Whiskey House is a purpose driven, grain-to-bottle whiskey distillery founded on the principle that the soul of its whiskey is comprised of the people who grow it, the people who make it, and the people who drink it. Using the traditional method of open-air, on grain fermentation, Laws' whiskeys feature high altitude grown American mother grains and mountain spring water while aging in 53-gallon charred American oak barrels. With a collection of award winning whiskey, including several Bottled in Bond expressions, Laws Whiskey House invites you to visit their tasting room in Denver's historic Gates neighborhood and enjoy the Laws experience. For more information visit www.lawswhiskeyhouse.com.

Ska Brewing and Peach Street Distillers Launch Boomerang Barrel Program

DURANGO, CO— The first of Ska Brewing and Peach Street Distillers’ Boomerang series beers, Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout Barrel No. 394, is now available at Animas Wine & Spirits. The beer, a 17% ABV Imperial Stout, was aged in a Peach Street Distillers whiskey barrel hand selected by the owners of Animas Wine & Spirits as part of the brewery and distillery’s new small-batch program.

The new Boomerang series is one more way for sister companies Ska Brewing and Peach Street Distillers to collaborate with one another. Within this series the companies plan to invite key accounts to choose their own barrels at Peach Street for which specialty beers will age, to be served exclusively for sale at each respective business. “This is a great opportunity to do something unique in the craft world, where people from both productions teams can collaborate on styles and flavors to match the barrel character to the beer they will be filled with,” says Peach Street Director of Sales Dustin LeMoine. “Buyers at exceptional liquor stores know their customers better than anyone, and with their input we can put together a program that combines craft interests from all over the palate, keeps things Colorado local from grain to glass (and shelf), and tastes pretty damn amazing… Why wouldn't we?”

The first of the Boomerang Series beers is Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout Barrel No. 394, a 17% ABV Imperial Stout. This is the highest ABV beer that Ska Brewing has brewed in almost 24 years of business.

Currently in the works for the Boomerang program are a prickly pear sour ale in Peach Street Anjeo-aged Dagave Gold barrels, several twists on giant imperial stouts in various Whiskey barrels, an Imperial Maple Brown. “This is just the beginning,” LeMoine adds. “Ska Brewing and Peach Street Distillers are focused on elevating the game of barrel aging in Colorado.”

To learn more about Ska Brewing and Peach Street Distillers’ Boomerang program, contact Emily Hutto at coop@radcraftbeer.com.

ABOUT SKA BREWING

Based in Durango, Colorado, Ska Brewing was founded in 1995 and produces more than a dozen awardwinning beers fueled with Ska music, and lots of it. Pioneers in the canned craft beer movement, Ska Brewing is known for an array of styles in 12 oz cans that include Mexican Logger, Modus Hoperandi, and Rue B. Soho. For information (a lot of it), more music, and a good time, visit www.skabrewing.com.