Yule Fuel cider is back for a limited time, alongside two highly anticipated newcomers: Pear Liqueur and Stone Fruit & Pear Brandy.  

The most festive time of year is upon us, which means it’s time to unveil our latest creations for the season. Our team has been experimenting with ripe fruit and warm winter spices to bring you the perfect beverages to bring along to holiday gatherings, tuck into stockings and gift baskets, or enjoy on a cozy winter evening at home.  

The Return of Yule Fuel 

Our beloved Yule Fuel has become a holiday tradition at Merridale, and we know it’s a favourite for many of our customers to take home this time of year.  

A collaboration between our cidery and distillery, Yule Fuel is a semi-sweet fortified mulled apple cider that will transport you to a cozy Christmas day, gathered around the fire.  

We infuse warming spices with crisp apple cider and cider brandy in this balanced blend. With notes of vanilla, peach, cinnamon, and nutmeg it’s the quintessential holiday party cider. 

Introducing Pear Liqueur 

Our new Pear Liqueur is fragrant and juicy like a perfectly ripe Bartlett pear. With fruity aromas and a long, sweet finish, it’s made to be sipped slowly on its own or mixed into craft cocktails. It pairs perfectly with flavours like ginger, cardamom and allspice for holiday beverages and desserts.  

Try it poured over vanilla ice cream or infused into spice-poached pears for a simple yet sophisticated holiday dessert.  

Our Long-Awaited Stone Fruit & Pear Brandy  

With notes of fruit cake and figgy pudding, this festive brandy will have visions of sugar plums dancing in your head!  

Our quest to craft the perfect holiday brandy began at the height of summer when BC stone fruits were at their peak. We selected perfectly ripe peaches, pears and plums, blended them with warming spices and mellowed them with our pear brandy, which has been carefully aged since 2007.  

The result is a delicate balance of oak, spice and fruit with a long, rich finish. It’s sure to be a coveted sipper for refined palettes and brandy lovers.  

Try it lightly warmed and served neat, blended into cocktails or poured over rich holiday desserts.  

Our master distiller Laurent Lafuente and cider master Jeff Phillips have given us three outstanding holiday beverages with this season’s limited release. We look forward to sharing these fruitful experiments with our customers in the coming weeks, and we can’t wait to hear what you think.

If you’d like to try our new Pear Liqueur and Stone Fruit & Pear Brandy, come visit us for a tasting in the Distillery with one of our storytellers.

We have a very limited number of bottles of these seasonal spirits available and the best place to buy them is at Merridale. If you love them, be sure to stock up because once they’re gone, they’re gone!

You can find Yule Fuel on our own menu and at private liquor stores, restaurants and pubs across Vancouver Island and the lower mainland this holiday season. As long as we keep hearing how much our customers love it, we’ll keep bringing Yule Fuel back year after year.

Thank you for supporting our creative pursuits and seasonal experiments. It’s truly a joy to be a part of our wonderful community’s holiday celebrations.