Brandy

What brandy is

Brandy is fruit, fermented and then distilled. Grapes are the usual fruit; apples, cherries, pears and plums all work. The name comes from the Dutch for burnt wine, which is exactly what distillation does to it — and one early motive was to make wine survive a long sea voyage.

It is not one drink but a family. A grape brandy matured for years in oak is heavy and faintly sweet; a colourless fruit spirit that never saw wood is sharp and direct. What they share is only the raw material.

How it is made

First the fruit is fermented: grapes become wine, cherries ferment whole, stones included. Then it is distilled, in batches in a pot still, which keeps more of the fruit, or in a column, which runs lighter. From there the paths divide. Oak ageing supplies colour along with vanilla, dried fruit and wood; glass or earthenware vessels supply nothing at all, which is the point when the fruit aroma is what you want to keep.

The main types

• Cognac — grape brandy from the Cognac region of western France, twice distilled in copper pot stills and matured in French oak. The VS, VSOP and XO marks state the minimum age of the youngest spirit in the blend, in ascending order.
• Armagnac — the neighbour to the south-west, usually continuously distilled and rougher in style.
• Pisco — the grape spirit of Peru and Chile; accounts of who owns the name differ. Peruvian rules allow no water to be added after distillation and no wood ageing, which keeps it clear and grape-scented.
• Kirsch — a colourless cherry eau-de-vie traditional to Alsace, the Black Forest and Switzerland, marked by an almond-like bitterness from the stones.
• Pomace brandy — distilled from pressed skins and pips: grappa in Italy, marc in France.

What it tastes like

Grape brandy runs to raisin, apricot and honeyed flowers, with vanilla and oak after time in cask. Fruit brandies are dry and pointed, smelling like fruit just cut open. Most brandy is not sweet; the impression of sweetness comes from the aroma.

Brandy in cocktails

Before gin and whisky took over, brandy was the default base. Cognac with orange liqueur and lemon juice is a Sidecar; the sugar-rimmed, peel-wrapped Brandy Crusta is a surviving nineteenth-century form; a sugar cube, bitters and bubbles make a Champagne Cocktail; split with whisky and vermouth it becomes the New Orleans Vieux Carré. The other grapes: pisco shaken with lemon juice, sugar syrup and egg white is a Pisco Sour, and kirsch meets vermouth in a Rose.

Choosing a bottle for mixing

No brands, three questions. Which half of the family? Cask-aged grape brandy carries sours and stirred drinks; colourless fruit brandy is an aromatic ingredient and belongs in small measures. Which age grade? Mixing rarely needs the oldest bottle, and VS to VSOP usually holds up better against the dilution that shaking adds. How sweet is it? Some brandies may be sweetened and coloured, and a sweet base will pull the balance of a drink off centre.