Brandy & Cognac

About

Bring fall flavors to your favorite cocktails with our assortment of brandy. Brandy is one of our favorite categories. It's broad with many types, flavors, and traditions. It's narrow with highly proscribed rules to qualify as certain sub-categories like Cognac. It's simple and unpretentious as an old moonshiner's favorite, using the leftover scraps of the harvest. It's complex and sophisticated with layered tasting notes for sub-categories like Armagnac. It is many things to many people, and for us it's essential for the adventurous cocktailers home bar. What is brandy? Brandy is a distilled spirit made from fruit juice or fruit pomace. The name comes from the Dutch "brandewijn" meaning "burned wine". They are typically aged in oak which imparts flavors and reddish color. The most popular are made from grapes, including well-known varieties like Cognac and Armagnac from France. But fruit brandies like apple, pear and plum are also enjoyed. Brandy typically contains 35-60% alcohol by volume. What are the different types of brandy? Popular classifications of brandy include: Fruit - Made from other fruits besides grapes, like apples, pears, plums, peaches, or berries. Grape - Made from grape juice or pomace including well-known Cognac, Armagnac, American and Greek varieties. Vintage - Branded and bottled after aging for a specific number of years. Pomace - Made by fermenting and distilling grape skins, pits and stems left from winemaking. Lees - Distilled from the yeast sediment left on wine barrels after fermentation. How is brandy made? Production begins with fermenting fruit juice or fruit pomace into a wine. Common fruits include grapes, apples, pears, berries, peaches, plums. The fruit wine is then distilled at least once in a pot still, column still or combination of both. This raises the alcohol percentage and concentrates the fruit aroma and flavors. The raw distillate can be aged in oak barrels for years to smooth and mellow the spirit. Oak aging also imparts