Our Williams pears are grown and ripened in Zdole, in the Spodnja Štajerska region, Slovenia. First-class pears are hand-picked at the Bostele farm and transported with great care to our distillery in the Prekmurje region. We leave the pears to ripen and then we cut them by hand to remove any rot along their stalks, seeds and calyx, which serve no purpose for our product.
Although we strive to be a modern brand, we stay true to nature and the best of traditions when it comes to our fruit spirit production. For this reason, we do not add any sugar to the Williams pears during fermentation. Instead we utilize the pears’ own sugar. Although this may yield less fruit spirit, its aroma is fuller and the finish lingers longer. As our distillation method follows the old traditions, we do not use modern tower stills. With the first distillation, we obtain 18% alcohol and the second 61%. By using good quality spring water sourced at a location near our distillery, we produce fruit spirit with 40% alcohol. After distillation, the unaged fruit spirit is not immediately sold to customers. Like most good things in life, it needs time to mature. We pour the Williams Pear Fruit Spirit into bottles after one year of aging.
As we do not remove any natural constituents from our fruit spirit, the high content of natural essential oils makes chilled Berke Williams Pear Fruit Spirit look a bit cloudy. But fear not, Williams Pear Fruit Spirit is a special kind of lady, wherein a clear spirit does not mean the best quality. Quite the opposite! To discover its true character, cool it to 15-18°C before serving.
Naše hruške viljamovke zrastejo in dozorijo v Sloveniji, v Zdolah na Spodnjem Štajerskem. Na kmetiji Bostele jih ročno oberejo in poskrbijo, da so 1. kategorije. V nadaljevanju za naše prvokategornice ustrezno poskrbimo mi. Ko prispejo do nas v Prekmurje, jih najprej pustimo, da se medijo, nato jih ročno razrežemo in odstranimo morebitno gnilobo, pa tudi vse tisto, kar je za naše potrebe odveč – muho, pecelj in pečke.
Čeprav se sicer trudimo za sodobno blagovno znamko, smo pri izdelavi zvesti najboljši tradiciji in naravi. Med fermentacijo hruškam ne dodajamo sladkorja, ampak izkoristimo njihovega. Morda dobimo zato manj žganja, a je njegova aroma polnejša in v ustih ostane dlje. Destilacija poteka kot nekoč, brez sodobnih stolpnih kotlov. Pri prvi destilaciji dosežemo 18 % alkohola, pri drugi 61 %. S kakovostno izvirsko vodo, ki je kot nalašč na voljo v bližini naše žganjarne, dobimo žganje s 40 % alkohola. Ne ponudimo vam ga takoj; kot vsaka dobra stvar v življenju mora dozoreti. V steklenice viljamovko nalijemo po enem letu.
Ker žganju ne odvzemamo naravnih primesi, bo zaradi visoke vsebnosti naravnih eteričnih olj zelo ohlajena viljamovka Berke kalna. Ne bojte se, viljamovka je posebne vrste gospa, pri kateri bistrost ne pomeni najboljše kakovosti. Ravno obratno. A njen pravi značaj boste odkrili šele, ko jo boste ohladili na 15–18 stopinj.