Review: The Calistoga Star California Brandy 7 Years Old

Calistoga Depot Distillery is a new spirits brand from the Boisset Collection, which has of late been making a major push into harder alcohol, most notably tequila. The Calistoga Star is a more expected offering from the notable winemaker — a brandy made from California wine grapes, named in honor of San Francisco’s first newspaper, The California Star. (Its owner, Samuel Brannan, was also a prolific brandy distiller.)

The Calistoga Star blends various distillates that spend between 7 and 15 years in a combination of barrel types: 60% is column distilled and aged in used charred American white oak, and 40% is alembic distilled and aged in French Oak wine casks. The grapes used include chardonnay, French colombard, grenache, muscat, and symphony varietals. And as for the Calistoga connection, the brandy is actually made in nearby St. Helena.

Let’s try it.

The rather dark, sweet-tea color of the brandy is clearly the result of some caramel addition, but let’s not hold that against the spirit. The nose is harder to explain, with an immediate punch of black pepper tempering a more traditional brandified sweetness — here driven by raisins and figs, some orange peel, lavender, and a bit of rosemary. The pepper endures: Cracked black peppercorns are impossible to get away from, and something I don’t think I’ve never encountered in brandy before of any ilk.

The palate is much more traditional and expected, offering a sweet but not overblown quality that melts coconut and brown butter into a lightly raisiny core. Increasingly floral as it develops on the tongue, the brandy shifts to find notes of lilac and baking spice, heavy on the ginger. Boozier than I expected — though it is a little overproof — with a distinctly winey quality on the finish. Nothing fancy, but it grows on you.

85 proof.

B+ / $75 / calistogadepot.com

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