Family Tradition Includes 27 Year Old Premiere Brandy N0.83 at Charbay

ST. HELENA, Calif., Dec. 6, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Charbay, a family run artisan winery and distillery, has launched its Premiere brandy program with their 27 year old Brandy N0.83. It's part of Charbay's small-batch luxury Medallion Collection of artisan spirits. It will be on every brandy drinker's To-Taste list. Aged in French oak since 1983, the brandy barrels built up a mystique. For 27 years, Charbay's owner and Master Distiller, Milorad (Miles) Karakasevic, guarded over them and said: "We'll release when I say they're ready. Soon, but not yet."

(Photo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101206/NYFNSN04 )

Back in 1983, on a foggy night, Miles, his young family and a close team gathered around the Alambic pot still. There was a hushed excitement as they distilled. In the second run of the inaugural distillation, as the heart of the brandy flowed out of the still and into Limousin French oak barrels, they knew it was a legend in the making.

Miles, a 12th generation winemaker/Master Distiller from Yugoslavia, distills the way a distiller dreams of distilling. He sources the finest fruit and watches over his distillations. The family just never thought he'd wait 27 years for the brandy. "That's Miles," says Susan. She designed the package for the Brandy.

Through those years, Miles was sharing the family trade with their son Marko. "27 years of distilling the different classes of spirits were my son's apprenticeship," Miles will tell you. "We distilled together all four of the sprits categories: brandy, whiskey, rum and even tequila. Now it's his turn to run the Charbay stills as a Master Distiller," he adds with that wink of a proud man.

Miles and Susan still run their family business with the next generation. Marko, who was 10 when they distilled this brandy, became a Master Distiller in 2009. Can you taste a foggy night of distilling in a bottle of brandy? Can you feel the hushed excitement when the new Alambic still was fired up? It's rumored that you can.

N0.83 is for brandy aficionados that savor brandy as an experience. It is available at the Still House in St. Helena where they distill the brandies for their ports, dessert wines and aperitifs. Two bottle sizes: 750 ML/$350 and 375 ML/$185 a bottle

More information available at www.charbay.com

SOURCE Charbay Winery & Distillery