Our Distillery

The Brandy House

Although we welcome you to open the door of the Brandy House to have a look at our still, we ask that you don’t enter the room unescorted. All tours of this building must be done with one of our merridale staff members, as it is a bonded area. However, we welcome the opportunity to take you on an authentic tour of the ancient French craft of turning apples and local fruit into a deliciously aged aperitif, fortified cider, and soon to be released fruit based vodka.

In the Brandy House, you can become a brandy maker for the day, tasting raw material directly from oak barrels and immersing yourself in the sights and sounds of a traditional cider farm. 

The Brandy House offers distillery tours, and tastings of our spirits, fortified line, and fruit based vodka. The brandy house is also excellent for stand-up receptions and is a unique venue to host company or group parties. Hot and cold appetizers are available from the merridale kitchen, and can be paired with beverages of your choice. 

Experience the Life of a Brandy Maker

As an active distillery, our Brandy House allows you to explore the full cycle of cider-making−from early spring blooms to the first snow of late fall. Depending on the season, orchard workers might be sorting through crates of cider apples harvested just a few steps from the distillery. Or perhaps you will arrive in the early spring as we care for the trees.

Our expert cider makers will tell you about the unique varieties of cider apples used to make Merridale’s brandy. While generations and generations of cider makers in Northern France have used distinctive varieties of cider apples to make the world renowned brandy called Calvados, many of those varieties have also been brought to our own Vancouver Island cider orchard. The Cowichan Valley mimics the growing conditions of Northern France, and Merridale, as Canada’s largest producer of craft cider from English and French cider apples, is carrying on that tradition.

So take a tour of the Brandy House and immerse yourself in the daily life of a brandy-maker. Learn about the history of Brandy Houses, taste brandy direct from the barrels, and then stroll down to the Bistro to enjoy a long European lunch to honor the patient craft of the early French brandy-makers.

How We Began Making Brandy

While touring Normandy and South West England, we sampled some of the world’s finest cider brandies made from unique varieties of cider apples.

Many of those varieties can be found in our Cowichan Valley orchard, so we decided during that trip to take on the challenge of making North America’s best Calvados-style brandy. After years of study and research we embarked on our newest passion, distilling.

How to Make Brandy  

Brandies are made by carefully fermenting the fruit and then distilling. We have selected a hand-crafted Mueller still from Germany to make our brandy. This still is made of hand-hammered copper and has been designed to preserve as much of the aroma and flavour of the fruit as possible. The craftsmen at Mueller take months to make each individual still, to ensure that it makes the best quality brandy over a lifetime of use.

The process of distilling releases clear nectar known as ‘Eau de Vie’ or water of life. Our Eau de Vie is ‘Pomme de Vie’ or apple of life. To make brandy or Calvados the master distiller ages the Eau de Vie for years in carefully selected oak barrels. The process of aging in oak enhances many of the characteristics of the brandy and slowly adds a distinctive caramel colour.

The choice of barrel is important to the end product. Some of our brandies will be aged in French Oak, some in American Oak. We hope to be the first to age some brandies in Canadian Oak. In years to come, you will be able to experience the difference that each of these bring.