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Dampfwerk Distillery Cocktail Room
Making real fruit brandies is a process that takes a long time, which is why the Dampfwerk Distillery, open since the summer of 2016, didn't have their pear brandy first thing. That required pear season, a delivery of tens of thousands of pounds of Oregon pears, and then washing, grinding, fermenting, and distilling the pear-mash. The process takes months and results in a beverage that's like the essence of a pear turning to light—fragrant as a pear, vanishing as a flash-bulb.
If you were lucky to get some of the Dampfwerk 2018 vintage, currently sold out of their internal inventory, but still on a few liquor store shelves, you're familiar with this exquisite and painstaking all-fruit brandy. If not, hear this: Dampfwerk Distillery opened their cocktail room this week, and it's gorgeous, and it's also the only place you can reliably try this wonderful pear brandy.
Dampfwerk is the all-family project of the Löffelholzes. Ralf is the German-born distiller who wanted to preserve the old-world traditions of the Northern-German, Scandinavia-adjacent part of the world from which he sprang. Daughter Bridgit Löffelholz is the social-media adept who trained at Esker Grove and Martina to learn the ins and outs of modern bartending, so she could assemble a team and create a bar worthy of the Dampfwerk products. And mom Mary Löffelholz is the Delta airlines executive who financed her family's dreams and made sure every little detail was nailed down. She called in big gun package designers, commissioned a big steel bar, got the best barware, and as of this week threw open the Dampfwerk doors to all comers.
I stopped by, and people, it's nuts. It's great! It's nuts. Dampfwerk is in the most nowhere bit of industrial St. Louis Park, kind of west of 100, north of Trader Joe's, if you know what I mean, and unless you live in St. Louis Park likely you don't. You get there through residential streets not entirely believing your GPS. But then you see the sign, you hesitantly park, and on the other side of the door: Bam! It feels like you've stepped through a wormhole into a W in Midtown Manhattan—there's a big gray steel bar, beautiful lighting, a minimalist fireplace, a steampunk shiny still, high bar stools, an infinity of jars filled with exquisite elixirs and a holy-cow elite cocktail menu.
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Dampfwerk Distillery Cocktail Room Cocktails
I tried some wonderous potions. Left to right, first you see a gin, fennel, and lemon number called "Is this a date?" which is roughly like a Tom Collins, but so light and refreshing it was a challenge not to drink it like lemonade. Next, the Dampfwerk Old Fashioned is in the running as my drink of the year. Made with barreled apple brandy (from local fruit, smashed and distilled) and a bit of saline and smoked maple, it tastes just like an Old Fashioned—but absolutely dry, like the shadow on a wall cast by an Old Fashioned hit by lightning. Next, the red one, that's one of the little half-cocktails they're selling, in a very budget-friendly move, priced from $4 to $6. This one specifically is called the West, and is made with apple brandy, cherry juice, and bitters, and is a lovely little number. The fancy glass to the far right is the pure pear brandy, and it's a must-taste.
And also there will be cake! Mary Löffelholz told me that they are soft-opening this week, and soon hope to have Kaffe Klatsch Sundays, with special German cakes and pastries made for them by nearby Honey & Rye Bakehouse and Dogwood coffees. That way you can swing by on Sundays and live that Black Forest lifestyle.
For now, they have a France-44 supplied cheeseboard, and we all know that France 44 is the preferred vendor for world-class Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheeses, so that's another big draw. And, they're across the parking lot from Copperwing Distillery, so you can hit two cocktail rooms, if that's your thing.
Swing by on Wednesdays through Saturdays, and drink like you're in a swank far-off hotel, right off Excelsior Boulevard. You can buy one single 375 milliliter bottle of rare Dampfwerk spirits on each visit, in accordance with Minnesota law, so this is my pick for the hardest-to-get holiday-stocking-sized hooch in town.
The Dampfwerk Distillery 6311 Cambridge St., St Louis Park
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