Atwater distillery now used for small-batch brandy

A Fresno man this week used an Atwater distillery to bottle and label his small batch brandy, which he intends to sell up and down the San Joaquin Valley.

Ken Andrus, 67, the owner and brandy maker of In Distill of the Night Spirits, said he expects to distribute all of the roughly 5,500 bottles he’s made in his inaugural batch.

It remains unclear exactly where a drinker could pick up a snifter of his brandy, which is called Velvet Night, but it will be mostly served at restaurants in the Valley, he said.

He’s been experimenting with the spirit for a few years now, and has a style he’s ready to go to market with. “This is probably the most exciting thing I’ve done for a long time,” he said.

Brandy is a spirit that comes from distilling wine. The drink typically carries a sweetness, because it’s made with fruit, but also has notes of caramel, vanilla, cinnamon and even leather and pepper.

Any fruit can be made into a brandy, but Andrus’ uses wine made from grapes. He said Velvet Night stands apart because he blends it to have a “bourbon-esque” flavor.

All those little notes of flavor come from the types of wine used, as well as the barrel that the drink is aged in. Velvet Night uses American and Hungarian wood barrels.

Brandies have a limited audience, Andrus said, noting they don’t tend to appeal to party animals or beer drinkers. But, he said, he’s OK with that.

Trying a brandy could be of particular interest to wine drinkers who think they have tried it all. “I wanted to continue the wine-tasting experience into something else,” he said.

Andrus retired at the end of last year after 44 years as a pharmacist in Fresno. He said the transition into distilling spirits was a natural move for him because it’s a chemistry all its own. “This is all chemistry, it’s all natural,” he said while standing next to his equipment. “All we’re doing is expediting the process.”

He noted that brandy would occur naturally if the mixture was left to sit in a barrel, but would take much longer than the distilling process.

Velvet Night was made in the Atwater distillery owned by David Souza, who makes the sweet potato vodka Corbin.

Andrus said he already has restaurants asking about his brandy, and he looks forward to watching people sip from a snifter of his spirit. “I want somebody to drink the brandy because they like it, not just because it’s a brandy,” he said.

For more on the brandy, go to Andrus’ website, www.indistillofthenight.com.

This story was originally published May 22, 2015 at 2:43 PM with the headline "Atwater distillery now used for small-batch brandy."