Per Matchbook - "To mark this third rotation around the sun for our smoky and wild fruit spirit Ritual Sister, we add to the ritual, with a more substantial pied de cuve. Our fire roasted, smoked and baked pineapples are now fermenting whole in a bath of evaporated pineapple juice and mineral water. This golden nectar, the evaporated pineapple juice, arrives to us in stainless steel drums, powder coated in a deep green. When we unwind the bolts and open the lids, we find our pineapple juice the consistency of honey and the color of a copper rose gold. It tastes sweet, a bit tart, and oh, so pineapple. Have you ever had a classic Jamaican pineapple upside down cake? Sweet, buttery, pineapple, coconut.
We transfer this pineapple nectar, made by evaporating the water our from clarified pineapple juice - into a tank. We add in our purified water, our signature blend of minerals and a handful of Champagne yeast. Meanwhile, we're building the fires for the whole pineapples. Still taking about 7 hours to get the fire properly ripping and hot before raking out the coals and burying the whole fresh pineapples in our pit. Approximately 800 lbs at a time. Leaving them to roast for 1-4 days, variation depending on intuition and weather. Upon digging them up, we bring them to the distillery to get them covered in our new pied de cuve of pineapple nectar and mineral water. Still never adding any sugars or other nutrients. Just 100% pineapple fermented with Champagne yeast and minerals. After anywhere from 1-8 weeks, we crush the pineapples and distill the fermented juices together with the solids. In that fermentation, we are looking for the natural, microbial world—ever present although invisible until it isn't--to be a guiding force in building the structure and character of this unique spirit. We look for lactic acid bacteria, wild yeasts, acetic acid—we welcome it in spades—but guide it into balance by shaping the environment, through timing, temperature control, oxygen management. The natural conditions that we can turn up or turn down to bring these transformative organisms and compounds into balance. Finished with a single pass through a pot column copper still to capture and concentrate the Rituals finishing essence."
We transfer this pineapple nectar, made by evaporating the water our from clarified pineapple juice - into a tank. We add in our purified water, our signature blend of minerals and a handful of Champagne yeast. Meanwhile, we're building the fires for the whole pineapples. Still taking about 7 hours to get the fire properly ripping and hot before raking out the coals and burying the whole fresh pineapples in our pit. Approximately 800 lbs at a time. Leaving them to roast for 1-4 days, variation depending on intuition and weather. Upon digging them up, we bring them to the distillery to get them covered in our new pied de cuve of pineapple nectar and mineral water. Still never adding any sugars or other nutrients. Just 100% pineapple fermented with Champagne yeast and minerals. After anywhere from 1-8 weeks, we crush the pineapples and distill the fermented juices together with the solids. In that fermentation, we are looking for the natural, microbial world—ever present although invisible until it isn't--to be a guiding force in building the structure and character of this unique spirit. We look for lactic acid bacteria, wild yeasts, acetic acid—we welcome it in spades—but guide it into balance by shaping the environment, through timing, temperature control, oxygen management. The natural conditions that we can turn up or turn down to bring these transformative organisms and compounds into balance. Finished with a single pass through a pot column copper still to capture and concentrate the Rituals finishing essence."
