Capreolus Distillery
Barney Wilczak is on a mission to make the finest eaux-de-vie on earth, with zero compromises. It's safe to say that this is a mission accomplished – Capreolus Distillery produces spirits of astonishingly high quality that reflect the painstaking processes behind each bottle. Wilczak preserves his local English landscape through exclusively wild fermentation, meticulous distillation, and thoughtful sourcing of fruit.
Eschewing shortcuts to prioritize quality as the sole focus, the various eaux-de-vie from Capreolus require up to 100 pounds of fruit to produce a single liter of spirit. Every piece of fruit is picked at peak ripeness then graded and cleaned by hand before fermentation and distillation. Capreolus works with a plethora of local fruit including mulberry, apple, comice pear, damson plum, quince, blackcurrant, gooseberry, and more.
Fermentation
Capreolus utilizes slow fermentation with only the wild yeasts present on the fruit they select from local growers. A number of different yeasts present on each fruit provides not only their own unique character, but links the end product to the landscape from which the fruit originates.
Decisions are made on whether to include parts of the fruits that Capreolus describes as “noble”, including stems, stones and pips. Rather than trying to replicate artificial fruit flavors, they seek to capture eaux de vie that elevate and preserve true flavors of both fruit, plant, and landscape in which they grow.
Distillation
Once fermentation is nearly complete, the fruits are transferred to the distillery and transferred gently into a small custom copper still, heated by renewable power and clothed in a water bath to remove the risk of scorching.
A first distillation concentrates the essence of the fruit to create low wines between 15% and 30% abv, followed by a second spirit run yielding further concentration and higher abv.
Utilizing experience and a sensitive nose, Barney Wilczak takes great care making the heads, hearts, and tails cuts to ensure the essence, vitality, and delicacy of an entire harvest's worth of fruit are captured as perfectly as possible.
Capreolus Distillery expressions
Our offerings from Capreolus will change over time. At the moment, the following products are available in the US:
Damson Plum Eau de Vie
The damson is a plum that seems to express its wild and exotic nature in its very appearance and flavor. Small and dusky skinned, tannic, rich, and exuberant. More closely related to wild plums than domestic, its journey to our shores was a long and ancient one along the spice route.
Once naturalized, it became a darling of the culinary world with a huge industry around it. Unfortunately it is now a rarity. Capreolus finds their damsons in the microclimate of the Vale of Evesham, considered the absolute epitome for plum cultivation in the UK. Hand graded, gently fermented, with all stones hand sieved from the fruit just before distillation. They utilize around 53 pounds of fruit in each liter of eau de vie.
The aroma is deep, rich, and complex On the palate, full ripe damson is lifted with hints of redcurrant, sweet and sour, with a touch of wood spice. It has the depth of true fresh damson, rich, sweet spices, hints of cocoa, deep bass and contrasting fine floral high notes with subtle hints of almond.
Raspberry Eau de Vie
Beneath the ancient spine of the Malvern hills lies a landscape ideal for the cultivation of our beautifully aromatic raspberries.
Carefully tended, each berry is hand selected and delivered to the distillery in perfect condition. Their fragility means that we have to work quickly to grade and clean each berry. Working only with the fruit’s natural sugar, Capreolus slowly ferments them in small vats to ensure the preservation of their enormous vitality. Requiring around 75 pounds of fruit to produce each liter, the reward for this laborious work becomes evident in both the slow distillation and long maturation.
Breathe in and a huge, intoxicating, aroma of perfectly ripe raspberries envelops you. Extremely floral, intense high notes and softer deeper notes interplay with nuts, lemon, and rose. On the palate, an explosion of flavor. Mouth filling raspberries, more flowers, rose geranium, turkish delight, hints of nuts, mint, and spice with a beautiful sweetness and a never ending finish.
1,000 Apples Eau de Vie
Just eleven miles from the distillery, it is hard to overstate the rarity and importance of the orchard from which Capreolus sources their apples. Growing over 1,000 varieties of apples, this genetic treasure trove provides them with the raw material for their annual apple field blend eau de vie.
Capreolus is among the few who have had the chance to experience the myriad spectrum that can exist in such a humble fruit. Many of the varietal names are strange and archaic, however they are no novelty. Held within the genes of these beautiful fruit is diversity, security for future breeding, adaptation to changing environments, and a living tapestry that paints the history of the landscape.
A very floral nose of freshly crushed apple, sweetness, hints of peel, spice, and nectarine. The slew of apple varieties brings incredible complexity to the textured palate with rich wood spice, beautiful perfume, juice filled apples, expressive of skin, flesh and core.
Quince Eau de Vie
It is hard for Capreolus to overstate their excitement at working with this incredible fruit. With each small arrival of local quinces, the distillery is immediately filled with the most heavenly scent one can imagine. It is, however, an extremely difficult fruit to work with.
The fine fuzz that covers these hand picked fruit contains an essential oil that turns rancid after distillation. Washing by hand removes every trace of this fuzz. Dry and tannic, quince needs expert preparation for a slow and successful fermentation that preserves its wild aromas. This takes over a month, and rushing would mean a loss of precious aroma. Following this is a gentle triple distillation. With 55 pounds of fruit used to make each liter, the result is extraordinary.
On the nose there is honey, rosewater, lemon zest and peach – it's very floral with a beautiful, sumptuous perfume. This is pure quince fruit, very different from the quince paste one might find on a cheese board. On the palate there are fresh apples and pears, white pepper, more and more citrus zest. It is sweet, sour, juicy, and drying.
PACKING INFO
1,000 Apples Eau de Vie
Bottle Size: 375ml
Number of bottles per case: 6 bottles
Weight of a case: 8.27kg, 18.23lbs
Item Code: PZ8812
Combo pack (3 each of Quince, Raspberry, Apple)
Bottle Size: 375ml
Number of bottles per case: 12 bottles
Weight of a case: 16.52kg, 36.46lbs
Item Code: PZ8814
Raspberry Eau de Vie
Bottle Size: 375ml
Number of bottles per case: 6 bottles
Weight of a case: 8.27kg, 18.23lbs
Item Code: PZ8810
Damson Plum Eau de Vie
Bottle Size: 375ml
Number of bottles per case: 6 bottles
Weight of a case: 7.67kg, 17lbs
Item Code: PZ8811