Thanksgiving is nigh: meaning it’s as good a time as any to talk about clear brandy made entirely from root vegetables.
B is a new product of Boardroom Spirits, a distillery hailing from Lansdale, Pennsylvania. B is Boardroom Spirits’s take on Pálinka, a class of traditional fruit brandies native to Hungary. But in this case, the spirit is entirely made from beets (hence the “B”). In fact, it takes 16 pounds of beets to produce just one liter of B.
The sheer amount of beets that goes into this product comes across on the nose: I could hold my olfactory organ a good six inches above my tasting glass and still get shellacked with the earthy, funky smell of beets and soil.
B is light on the tongue, but very hot, which is no surprise given its 90 proof status. An exceptionally strong beet taste takes hold from the first sip. It’s not one-note, but varied: like biting into a beet itself and taking in its different flavors as you chew. It gains some sweetness in the center, taking on a taste akin to beets glazed in brown sugar. The end progresses past the beet and seems to end in the soil itself, a deep, earthy funk that’s strange but pleasant.
Whether you enjoy B is related to whether you enjoy beets: if you’re not a beet person to begin with, you’ll likely be turned off by its profound beet-ness. But if you’re the type that looks forward to beet season each year, B may be your liquid gold.
Stats:
— 45% ABV
— $30 per 375ml bottle
CE Rating: ★★★
