Doug Frost
Black Star Farms enjoyed incredible success at the 2014 Washington Cup Competition, taking home two of the six Washington Cups awarded for our Spirit of Cherry and Spirit of Apple fruit brandies! The Cup is the top honor in this competition exclusively for American-made spirits and liqueurs.
“The distilled spirits business demands a steep learning curve, so an experienced hand like Black Star Farms stands out among the many new and aspiring spirits makers.
Black Star Farms’ success with achieving two Washington Cups is nonetheless remarkable. Only six were given out among the nearly one hundred thirty spirits in the competition.”
~ Doug Frost
Washington Cup founder Doug Frost writes extensively about wine and spirits and one of only three people in the world to hold the Master Sommelier and Master of Wine certification. Doug is certainly a unique talent, and for the Washington Cup he created a judging process that is unique for its three phases of competition. These include a blind tasting by professional spirits judges and a tasting by professional bartenders who create signature cocktails for the top scoring spirits and a blind consumer tasting of the created cocktails.
Spirit of Cherry is produced from a blend of black sweet cherries including Hearty Giant, Ulster, Schmidt, Heidel-Fingen, Nelson, Van, and Sam, and from red tart varieties including Montmorency and Balaton. It has a clear appearance and distinctive subtle cherry flavors with robust but balanced alcohol and is neither sweet nor tart.
Spirit of Apple is a small batch, hand crafted apple brandy distilled from a true cider blend of several different apple varieties including Jonagold, Winesap, Rhode Island Greening, Spy, McIntosh, and Jonathan. It is then barrel-aged for three to five years, using both French and American oak. At the precise time the distiller feels is optimal, the brandy is bottled – often a single barrel at a time. Pale golden amber in color, it is well balanced with opulent, sweet-wood apple and caramel aromas and mellowed, spicy warmth.
Black Star Farms Spirit of Pear Brandy was awarded a Silver Medal.
More about the Washington Cup on their website (link will open in a new window)