BrewView: Corbin Cash Cocktails at the Stanislaus County Fair
by Brandilyn Brown
The animals, the rides, the music, the exhibits, and THE COCKTAILS. If you don’t think of cocktails when you think of the fair, you’re going to change your mind!
Corbin Cash is new to the fair, hailing from Atwater. Created, owned and operated by Dave Souza, he was looking for new ways to utilize the family sweet potato farm in San Joaquin Valley, established in 1917. The Souza family is big into creating jobs, wanting to revitalize agriculture by pulling young people in to create life-long careers out of farming. They encourage change and love new ideas. Growing rye and sweet potatoes, already a rotatable crop, he decided spirits was the specialty niche to break into. With the freshest ingredients, and knowledge from all his years of farming, it was a match made in fermentable heaven. Then all the water used in the distilling process is put back into the field, to grow more potatoes. It’s such a beautiful, continuous relationship of suitability and innovation.
Traditionally, vodka is made from white potatoes; which contain more sugar than sweet potatoes, meaning you need less white potatoes to make alcohol. Even after you are able to break down the sugars in the sweet potato, it still takes over 10 pounds of sweet potatoes to make one bottle of Corbin Cash. Sweet Potatoes are low on the glycemic index, which is great for people with diabetes, not so great for distillers. That didn’t stop Dave from turning his unique idea into a delicious reality, though. He had to formulate special enzymes to break down the sugars in the potatoes, in a process that took 1.5 years to perfect. And we are rewarded by his hard work with a delightful vodka!
Once he had a reliable recipe, Corbin Cash was formed, named after his son. The vodka won a Double Gold in 2011 at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition, and a Double Gold at the 2013 Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America 70th Annual Convention & Exposition. It’s a fantastic spirit, smooth and almost buttery, but with a neutral taste, just perfect for mixing cocktails. I like very simple cocktails, so you can taste every ingredient and get a real feel for how the flavors mix. Too many additions to a cocktail and you end up with a sugary mess.
Dave is serving up the Sweet Potato Soda at the fair, so head on over and get one for yourself. It’s a dreamy, refreshing ginger soda made with the Sweet Potato liqueur, and sure to please every palate. This cocktail is my new favorite! The liqueur is only 2.5% sugar, which is nearly 20% less than typical liqueurs. This makes it a fabulous foundation for any cocktail-I don’t think you could end up with anything too sweet to drink using this!
Check ‘em out on facebook, and call to schedule your tasting room excursion to become familiar with the entire line of Corbin Cash products.
Corbin Crush Recipe for the vodka (found at your local BevMo):
1.5 oz Corbin Vodka
.5 oz simple syrup
.5 ox fresh orange juice
ice
lemon-lime soda to taste
