Yukon Wildberry Brandy (40%)
If you’re not from around here, you might think folks in Canada’s Yukon Territory would need to import fruits and berries if they wanted to make brandy. In truth, the berry bushes up here are tough enough to steal your lunch money if they weren’t so busy surviving the bitter-cold winter. But, come summer, visitors to the land of the midnight sun quickly learn what residents already know: weather blowing in from the Pacific Ocean keeps the area around Whitehorse warm enough for certain fruits and berries to flourish. It’s been this way since long before the Gold Rush years made farming essential to feed the growing population.
Fruits? Berries? Distillery? This Means Golden Brandy!
Spirits lovers know Yukon Brewing best for its flavourful, long-aged single malt whiskies. However, another little-known spirit from this Whitehorse-based distillery is well worth seeking out too. It’s a tasty North of 60 fruit brandy, called Yukon Wildberry, and it is Yukon through and through.
Crops of locally grown raspberries, black currants and saskatoon berries are tiny, sometimes made even tinier by hungry bears. Electric fencing helps farmers keep bears off the fields, but these berries have a jolt of their own when the fall harvest is fermented into about 800 litres of fruit wine. Since it takes at least 1,400 litres to make a good distillation run though, two years’ crops, when distilled, fill just a single barrel with brandy spirit. A bucket of silver or a handful of gold, this brandy is all about quality over quantity.
Distilling The Yukon
When Yukon Brewing celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017, it bottled its first Wildberry batch, then 3 years old. They have since distilled three additional batches, blending barrels distilled in 2016 and 2017 for a second release in the fall of 2020.
With just four distillation runs under their belts, the Yukon Brewing team is still tweaking maturation regimens. Generally, they fill newly distilled brandy spirit into an ex-brandy barrel for 10 to 12 months before transferring it to a fairly neutral wine barrel to mature. As an experiment, a recent batch is now maturing in a whisky barrel to see how those flavours will marry.
So they can release a limited batch each November, owners Alan Hansen and Bob Baxter have recently initiated a solera system for future maturations. This means newly distilled batches will be added to older ones to mature, but only after enough mature spirit for a bottling run has first been drawn off. This will help even out yearly fluctuations in the volume of spirit produced and create the opportunity to blend out year-to-year variations in crop quality.
Hansen, who has taken on brandy making as a pet project, is also experimenting with the distillation process. Most recently he has taken deeper cuts, hoping to generate more flavour potential. He believes Wildberry begins to show good flavour development after about 18 to 24 months in the barrel. We have only tasted it at 3 years, and we think it is just smashing!
Tasting The Yukon
Aromas of raisins, figs, stewed prunes and canned peaches are bolstered by sweet esters, barrels tones and hints of sweet almond. The brandy is electrifying, sweet and lush with peaches, berries and gentle peppery heat, evolving over time from fruity to floral on the palate. A hint of kiwi fruit offers a pleasing accent on an otherwise creamy finish that’s almost as long as the Yukon’s entire growing season. Moreish, to say the least, with an exercise in patience between batches.