FAQ
What do we get in return for donating apples?
At the end of the harvest season, we will give a voucher to all those you donated entitling them to 10% of a bottle of Pochle.
The voucher is only redeemable online at checkout.
Is it possible to buy a cask?
Unfortunately, not at this point, we simply don’t have enough spirit. Perhaps this may become an option in the future.
Is it like Calvados?
Kind of!
It is made in roughly the same way (lots of slight variations) but to be a Calvados, the spirit would have to be aged for a minimum of two years, made in particular regions of France and adhere to all the other regulations of the appellation controlee.
Pochle Geal is essentially apple eau de vie (unaged white spirit distilled from fruit) from Scotland. Eau de vie is a French term meaning ‘Water of life’.
There are eau de vie’s made from all kinds of fruits that are drunk in many different countries. When aged these eau de vies become brandies. The most famous probably being Cognac. When mixed and aged the grape eau de vie’s from particular regions of France go on to become grape brandies from Cognac. Or just Cognac.
After aging Pochle Geal will become an apple brandy or cider brandy.
These have been around since the mid – late 1500’s in France and late 1600’s in the UK with Somerset cider brandy being granted a PGI (protected geographic indication) in 2011.
We are passionate about the quality of the spirit we produce and take inspiration from many spirits categories from all over the world but as this is written there are no regulations governing the production of eau de vie or brandies in Scotland. A carte blanche so to speak!
Where did you get all the apples from?
A large percentage of the apples were hand-picked or collected by Chris from private gardens and small private and community orchards in and around Edinburgh. Some were delivered by private individuals.
There has been an increasing trend of removing blossom trees from urban environments over the last 50 years as they are deemed a nuisance either by the blossom they produce or the fruit. This is obviously not good if you are a bee! …. Or a human!
If what we do encourages just one person not to remove the apple tree from their garden, or to keep their orchard then that will be a victory!
Some of the apples were also out-grades (ugly apples unsuitable for supermarkets) or windfall apples from farms and some commercial orchards.
If Pochle becomes a successful product we hope we can offer more orchards, walled gardens and farms an additional revenue stream from their apple harvest.
How is it made?
In layman’s terms:
Chris collects apples, takes them to a warehouse where he sorts, washes, crushes to a pulp and then presses to a juice using hydro presses. The resultant juice then has yeast added to it and it ferments to a cider. This cider is then distilled twice in a 500ltr pot still to produce our spirit.
Do you offer any support to community orchards/walled gardens?
The most important way in which we support community orchards and walled gardens is by being able to buy the apple harvest off them. (Depending on our sales!) This revenue can then be circulated back into the garden/community orchard for all to enjoy.
We can also offer picking services, sharing of equipment for their juice days and can also do juicing demonstrations at Schools and Scout groups etc to demonstrate the circular economy and how many things can come from one piece of produce.
If you are from one of these organisations and have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.