Sonoma Hooch

Wine Country is known for… uh, wine. But for those who wanna hit the harder stuff, here’s some quick hits on who’s making the good stuff here in Sonoma. Yes, kids, it’s time for:

Liquor in Wine Country!*

1) J Vineyards, located in that hip happening town of Windsor, just outside the small ville of Healdsburg, makes a pear liqueur that is called: J Pear. For the recent “Open That Bottle Night” I thought, what the heck, this is in a bottle. And it’s made by a winery. So I opened it. And believe you me – this is good stuff. Not at all what I expected after reading the tasting notes on the bottle which stated: “pear (sic ee cummings) is made from California Bartlett pears distilled in tradtional Alambic stills. This liquor fuses the fresh pear essence with the spicy, vanilla and honey characters of toasted oak. Enjoy on its own or with a variety of foods.”

My own thoughts? Enjoy. In a glass. A clean one if you got it. A paper funnel if you have to.

2) Optu Vodka is made from Chardonnay grapes and is, as far as I know without actually resorting to google, the only vodka that denotes an American Viticulture Area (AVA ) for it’s grapes of origin. I haven’t actually tasted this vodka because Keri bogarted the bottle, and only gave some to the Inside-Sonoma Ambassador, Daedalus. He seemed to enjoy it though, as evidenced by the video. He tastes it around 3:41. Oddly enough, by 3:41 pm, he is also usually tasting.

3) Gabriel Farm in Sebastopol, one of those awesome little orchards in Sebastopol, has u-pick apples and Asian pears. They also make a cool Pear Brandy with a pear in the bottle. This is high-end brandy, people. Torrey gave me a taste once, when my kids were out in the orchard wreaking havoc. I liked it. I liked it a lot.

4) Ace in the Hole Cider makes ciders in the West County burg of Graton from apples and pears and berries. You can get the cider in local stores and bars.  (And here’s the parenthetical: before Pinot and other grapes made their way to the west county, Gravenstein apples and pears and cows and the like were the main products. Know what’s cool? West county still has that stuff.)

Cider! Honey-infused cider!