Osocalis Distillery
831-477-1718
5579 Old San Jose Road
Soquel, CA 95073
info@osocalis.com

We are pleased to announce our first retail release. Osocalis Alambic Brandy is now available from the distillery, and also from selected retail stores and bars:

San Francisco Bay Area:

K&L Wine Merchants, 3005 El Camino Real, Redwood City, CA (650) 364-8544

K&L Wine Merchants, 638 4th Street San Francisco, CA (415) 896-1734

K Wine & Spirits, 708 Capitola Ave, Capitola CA (831) 475-9487

Forty-First Ave Liquors, 2155 41st Ave, Capitola CA (831) 475-5117

Trials Pub, 265 North First Street, San Jose, CA (408) 947-0497

Draeger's Market, 222 E. 4th Ave. San Mateo, CA (650) 685-3725

Draeger's Market, 1010 University Ave. Menlo Park, CA (650) 324-7739

Draeger's Market, 342 First St. Los Altos, CA (650) 948-9196

Beltramos, 1540 El Camino Real Menlo Park, CA (888) 710-9463

Weimax Wines & Spirits, 1178 Broadway, Burlingame, CA (650) 343-0182

Los Gatos Brewing Company, 130 N. Santa Cruz Ave. Los Gatos, CA (408) 395-9929

Martini Monkey Bar & Lounge, Terminal C, San Jose International Airport, (408) 925-9376

Los Angeles Area:

Beverage Warehouse 4935 McConnell Ave #21, Los Angeles, CA 90066 (310) 306-2822

Osocalis first public release is our Rare Alambic Brandy, a blend of Colombard, Pinot Noir, and other Coastal Callifornia grape varieties.

K&L Wine called this their Spirit of the Month:
"...If you buy only one new spirit for this New Year, make it Osocalis brandy!"

Osocalis is a small, artisanal distillery in Soquel, California. The name Osocalis is the original Native American name for Soquel, today part of the greater Santa Cruz area. We use a small (100 gallon) antique alambic Charentais still, imported from Cognac, to produce brandies using grapes and apples from the cooler coastal regions of California. We strive to produce products that have the length, elegance and finesse of Old World brandies, such as Cognac and Calvados, but with the fruit intensity and structure of California wines.

Founded in the early 1990's, Osocalis represents the second generation of small American distillers to use the combination of Old World techniques with New World fruit. The first generation of artisan distillers in California, including Germain-Robin in Ukiah and RMS in Carneros, clearly demonstrated the intensity and richness that can be achieved from brandies derived from California fruit. California brandy makers have the advantage (and the challenge!) of being able to blend a large number of grape varieties together for a more complex and interesting product, whereas French law strictly limits this practice. At Osocalis, our brandy is based primarily on Colombard and Pinot Noir, though we also distill a wide array of wines such as Marsanne, Riesling, Grenache, and Semillon. In fact, it is the art of blending these brandies from a variety of fruit sources which gives California brandies their very special style.

Osocalis's small production team is headed by Daniel Farber and Jeff Emery. Distiller Dan Farber has been involved in brandy production since the mid 1980's, visiting numerous brandy producing regions around the world and finally settling near Santa Cruz, California to help found the Osocalis Distillery. Winemaker Jeff Emery has been making wines for Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard since 1979, a winery which focuses on wines from small mountain vineyards, with an emphasis on Santa Cruz Mountains Appellation Pinot Noir. Jeff now heads the winemaking team for Osocalis in addition to continuing production at Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard.

Though Osocalis has been producing brandy for almost ten years, the Fall of 2003 bottling is our first release. The production of this first release is quite limited: the initial release is just 1,680 individually numbered 750 ml bottles, and 1,200 individually numbered 375 ml bottles. With a minimum age of 5 years, this brandy shows the intensity of fruit so unique to California while also having a hint of Old World spiciness.

While production will slowly increase with future bottlings, the emphasis at Osocalis will always be on optimizing the complex aromas and flavors of fine alambic brandy. This requires the patience to wait many years for proper aging before sales of a given brandy and a commitment to using the finest quality fruit available.

webmaster-at-osocalis.com

(C) 2003, 2004