Clear Creek Distillery is in a class all its own. Considered the founder of distilling in Oregon, Steve McCarthy started Clear Creek Distillery in 1985 because he wanted to find the best use of fruit from the McCarthy family orchard in the scenic foothills of Mt. Hood, America’s equivalent of Mt. Fuji.
Origins
Traveling in Europe, McCarthy became acquainted with a number of traditional European spirits, among them an Eau de Vie made with Williams Pear. Steve knew that with the wonderful fruit we grow in the Pacific Northwest he could make brandy just as good as that he had tried in Europe; hence the origin of Clear Creek Distillery. The name Clear Creek comes from the creek that runs through the pear orchard in Parkdale, Oregon.
European distillation traditionalists and purists love Clear Creek and so do we!
Eau de Vie, Grappas & Brandy
A genuine artisan distillery reflects the best of the natural and agricultural resources of its region. Clear Creek Distillery has succeeded in making world-class Eau de Vie “water of life” and Grappa, featuring the their famed Pear Brandy, which takes 28 pounds of pears to make one bottle of brandy.
Clear Creek fuses European traditional brandy-making techniques with the finest fruit from proprietary Oregon orchards to produce fruit Eau de Vie, Grappas, and wine brandy using traditional European pot still along with techniques learned in Alsace and Switzerland.
No colors or flavors are ever added. The distinctive “nose” or initial smell of the brandy in a snifter, is the result of careful fermentation and distillation of perfectly ripe fruit. You will taste only the clear and fiery essence of Oregon’s finest fruits.
Whiskey
Clear Creek Distillery’s answer to Islay Whiskey is distilled from a fermented mash of peat-malted Scottish barley, fermented into a “wash” at the famed Oregon beer brewery Widmer Brothers. As Steve says, “If it were made in Scotland, it would be Scotch.”
McCarthy’s started to receive significant acclaim in 2004, when Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible gave McCarthy’s its Best Small Batch Whiskey in the world award and a score of 94. That same year, whiskey aficionado Michael Jackson put McCarthy’s in his list of The Ten Best American Whiskeys, published in both the Men’s Journal (December 2004) and The Malt Advocate. In his 2006 edition of The Whiskey Bible, Jim Murray wrote, “McCarthy’s has earned a place among the world’s elite whiskeys.” His 2008 edition of The Whiskey Bible gave McCarthy’s an extraordinary score of 96. Fortunately for us, Steve has generously set aside a select quantity for our customers in Japan.
Liqueurs
Clear Creek Distillery continues the tradition of using only the best Northwest fruit and berries in their liqueurs. The lineup includes plums, cherries, raspberries, loganberries, blackberries and black currants. The newly released Cranberry liqueur has the most deep, rich red color and is as delicious to drink as it is beautiful to look at. Clear Creek liqueurs are an all-around favorite and a great place to start if you are new to European-style spirits, yet definitely of a caliber that will impress the most discerning of connoisseurs.
Pear-in-the-Bottle and Apple-in-the-Bottle
There is no better gift than the Pear-in-the-Bottle and the Apple-in-the-Bottle. These are not just brandies, these bottles actually contain a whole pear or apple inside. Led by the signature Pear-in-a-bottle, young fruit buds are placed in the bottle and grow throughout the summer. Steve let us in on the secret of how it is scrubbed with a toothbrush and twigs removed with long q-tip swabs.
Tip
Very limited runs of this whisky are made twice a year. Even with a limit of two bottles per person, entire batches are sold out in less than 30 hours. Fortunately, Steve has agreed to set aside a portion of production for customers in Japan. Unfortunately, there will be a limit of one bottle per person, when it becomes available. Hint: keep an eye out for it in June.
Acclaims and Accolades
Clear Creek has garnered an astounding number of awards and rave reviews in such authoritative publications as Bon Appétit and Wine & Spirits magazines and even The New York Times.
