When it comes to great wines, everyone knows about the vast selection that San Luis Obispo County offers, but some enterprising distillers are taking the leftover grapes and making brandy.

On the April 20 episode of “The Richard Beene Show,” Richard was joined by Adam Montiel and Jeremy West, who host the Cork Dorks on KERN’s sister station KRUSH 92.5, and they introduced him to Wine Shine, which is making spirits in Paso Robles, and Side Car, a burgeoning cocktail lounge and restaurant in downtown San Luis Obispo.

“There are so many people from your area that come to the Central Coast and take our brandy back to Bakersfield with them.” said Patrick of Wine Shine. “It’s unbelievable. We love the support we get from your area.”

West said that many winemakers would just dump the byproducts down the drain, but Wine Shine is helping change that.

“They said ‘hey wait a second, we will take that from you,’’’ West explained. “We will distill it, we’ll put it in oak barrels  and make these fine brandies out of it.”

Patrick said they are making a variety of flavored brandies.

“We sell a lot of this in Bakersfield,” he said.

And the most popular use of the brandy is to make a Manhattan cocktail, which drew Beene’s attention.

“I love a Manhattan,” said Beene, adding he was re-introduced to the cocktail two years ago during a trip to the East Coast.”

Montiel then introduced Beene to Josh at SideCar Slo, a craft cocktail maker in downtown San Luis Obispo.

“We are fortunate enough to live in a county where there are ton of really amazing producers,” Josh said. 

For more information about the Central Coast wine, food, craft beer and craft cocktail scene check out the Cork Dorks on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CorkDorksRadio/

And for the rest of the interview listen here: