The Brandihouse



Our distillery, Merridale Brandiworks, is housed in a unique arts and crafts style building we have carefully designed to showcase both our distillation process and our products that come of it.

Built in the early months of 2007, the Brandihouse now hosts exclusive tours and tastings for private groups. On these tours you’ll not only see the craft of distilling in action, you’ll also have the unique opportunity to taste the unfinished (but extraordinarily delicious) goods directly from the still and barrels, followed by a tasting of finished products at our granite tasting bar.

Pre-booking is required.

The Distillery Blossoms

Generation after generation of cider makers in Northern France have used distinctive varieties of cider apples to craft world-renowned brandy called Calvados. Merridale, as Canada’s premier producer of craft cider from English and French cider apples, is following that tradition and craftsmanship. While touring Normandy and South West England, we sampled some of the worlds 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 that we would strive to make North America’s best Calvados-style brandy. After years of study and research, we have embarked on our newest passion, the Brandiworks at Merridale.

The Making

Brandies are made by carefully fermenting the fruit and then distilling the cider. The fermentation science is as important as the craft of distilling. The distillation process is a combination of art and science where the master distiller is able to express his art through the use of the still. We have selected an individually 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 aromatic and flavour components from the fruit as possible. The craftsmen at Mueller take months to make each individual still to ensure that it makes the best quality brandy for years to come.

The Finishing

The process of distilling releases clear nectar known as “Eau de Vie” or Water of Life. Our nectar is thus “Pomme de Vie” — Apple of Life. To make brandy or Calvados the master distiller carefully 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 in the end product. Some of our brandies will be aged in French Oak, others in American Oak. We will also be the first to age some brandies in Canadian Oak. In the years to come, we hope that you will be able to experience the difference that each of these bring.