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Sherry Peppers Man Plans US Pep-Up
The Bermuda Sun Weekly By Tim Ewart
In a dim cellar beneath a 17th century house a
Bermudian named Outerbridge works late into the night in an atmosphere
heavy with the smell of sherry and disturbed only by the gentle bubbling
of his distilling equipment. It looks like a scene from those early days
of the island when many Bermudians were involved in rum-running,
privateering or blockade busting. But this is December, 1973, and
whatever dubious activities his long line of ancestors may have been
tied up in, Yeaton Outerbridge is doing nothing more sinister than
producing Sherry Peppers. In an island that has barely a handful of
producing industries, Mr. Outerbridge stands out as "Mr.
Manufacturer". He heads the successful Bermuda Paint Company, is an
active director of the company that makes Bermuda Gold Liqueur and
almost single-handedly turns out nearly 25,000 bottles of peppers a
year. At bottling time,
which starts this month and continues for several weeks, Mr. Outerbridge
gets the help of his family. He has five children, and daughters
Elizabeth, 11, and Louisa, 9, and 23-year-old son Graham regularly lend
a hand.
TRADITION - For the time being production of the hot, spicy sauce -
a traditional local additive to dishes like fish chowder remains very
much a cottage industry. Each step from selecting peppers and spices to
labeling and corking the five ounce cruets is carried out in the cellar
of "Villa Monticello", Mr. Outer bridge's Harrington Sound
home. But its cottage industry image will not remain intact for long.
Sherry Pepper sales - helped along by articles on Mr. Outerbridge's
product in publications like "Gourmet", "The Times"
and "House and Garden" - have been rising steadily over the
past three years and have now topped 23,000 bottles a year. With just
4,000 sold in the US during the last 12 months overseas sales have been
well behind the local figures. But next year that picture will change. Bottling of Sherry Peppers is soon to start at a plant in
Warwick, Rhode Island, and the initial run will turn out 10,000 in a new
shaker-bottle style. Mr. Outerbridge now has agents in the States, and
he expects sales there to soar. It
may not be long before a complete Sherry Peppers plant is set up in
America. Whatever happens there, however, he intends to continue his own
work at "Villa Monticello".
"I really love it", he says. He started the business
with cousin Mr. Robbie Outerbridge, proprietor of the Harbourfront
Restaurant, in 1964. "It was a kitchen operation using just a few bottles of
sherry," he recalls.
OWN RECIPES - Sherry Peppers have been made in Bermuda since its
early days, and the Outerbridge family - one of Bermuda's oldest - was
among the many with their own recipe. Local peppers had always been
used, but now Mr. Outerbridge uses imported varieties from Nigeria and
China." I get the ones from the Chinese People's Republic via New
York - but maybe you'd better not mention them", he laughs. He and
his cousin tried to grow their own, but gave up.
Mr. Outerbridge traveled to New York and found scores of
different types available.
Those he uses are among the hottest - as anyone who has been careless
with the Sherry Pepper bottle over their soup will know.
Mr. Outerbridge has burned the skin on his hands through contact
with the concentrate he makes from the peppers.
"They were stinging so much , I had to put them in milk for
a couple of hours", he says. Sherry
is pumped through he peppers to produce the concentrate.
Mr. Outerbridge adds 16 more spices, it's his own secret recipe -
before mixing more sherry for the final product.
One gallon of concentrate is enough for 1,500 cruets.
Peppers used originally are put into the bottles for decoration.
It took Mr. Outerbridge a long time before he developed the exact
flavour he wanted. "We
had complaints that the stuff was too hot, so we toned it down a
bit", he says.
In the weeks ahead activity in the cellar of "Villa
Monticello" will increase as members of the Outerbridge clan
assemble to prepare their father's brew for distribution.
The process is a lengthy one, for apart from the bottling
everything is done by hand. |
