Sam and I were both raised in the country, and every now and then we love getting away from the city and reconnecting with our childhood roots. As much as I love to stumble the few blocks home from Lark Street; walk to the grocery store; and jump in the car to drive ten minutes to the mall, I absolutely love visiting my hometown, which is away from everything.
Last weekend on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, Sam and I headed down to the fabulous Columbia County for some country fun – apple picking – complete with a tour of Golden Harvest’s apple vodka distillery, which makes Core Vodka. At 1pm in the afternoon, we were getting buzzed off of apple vodka shots, apple brandy shots, and pear brandy shots.
One would think that turning apples into vodka and brandy would be a big production, but everything is prepared in a small warehouse processed by a machine that looks like it came from Willy Wonka’s factory. They’re a small batch distillery with only 100 gallons brewing at a time, and I also learned that it takes 75 lbs. of apples to go into one bottle. More fun facts here.
Those Harvest Spirit people really like to experiment. The warehouse sort of looks like an oversized chemistry lab with test tubes and vials filled with vodka and brandy at different levels of the distilling process. A few vodka bottles were strapped to a tree all spring and summer and the apples grew inside the bottle, then they added the vodka. Sorry they’re not for sale – it was just for fun (but they did mention if you offer a good price they might let you have one). 
After the tour we drove over to Samascott Orchards (which is owned by my awesome friend’s family—Hi Jody!) to pick some apples. As you pull up to the farm you’re given bags and a little map that shows you where you can find the different variety of apples and other produce. It’s always exciting when you run into like ten people you know from high school while searching for the perfect apple. 
If you’re going to go apple picking, I recommend picking up the ingredients needed to make apple pie or apple sauce. Right now I have 4 lbs of apples (which only cost $2) sitting on my kitchen counter. We also bought one gallon of apple cider and half a dozen cider donuts. Did I mention we also tasted each variety that we picked? I’m not sure how we’re going to eat all these apples.
P.S. Sam and I ate at New World Bar and Bistro this week, and the restaurant was featuring a special caramel appletini made with Core Vodka and a caramel liqueur. I suggest you go there and try one – sweet on the taste buds and warm on the way down.
2 Responses
October 9th, 2009 at 12:40 am
I am a big fan of Golden Harvest. Glad you enjoyed it.
When you said apple brandy… was that their applejack? I know they were aiming to have it ready by about this time.
Any thoughts on how it compared versus the apple vodka?
November 5th, 2009 at 5:09 am
MEL!!! How fun that you wrote a blog about your big day of apple fun, and I even got a shout out! = ) You’re the best! Make some apple crisp with your apples…it’s the best dessert. I miss you!
Leave a Comment