What Is Brandy?

As much as we love to celebrate France for what they’ve accomplished in the areas of Bordeaux and Cognac, these places would not be creating such high quality wines and spirits today without the sixteenth-century influence of Holland. The Dutch first drained the marshes of Le Medoc (where many of the world’s most esteemed wines now come from) and at the port of La Rochelle on the Charente river, they had the brilliant idea to distill wine. 

In the minds of the Dutch merchants, shipping a lot of wine is more expensive than concentrating the “essence” of the wine (see this article) into fewer barrels and shipping those. When they got back to Holland, they would just add water to the spirit to reconstitute it et voilà, wine. There was good news and bad news waiting for them back home: the bad news was wine doesn’t work like that and it tasted nothing like it did before distilling it; the good news was after distillation and barrel aging, it tasted even better! The new product was what they called brandewijn, or brandy.

The original brandy was a wine-based spirit. But there are many types of brandy that are made from other fruits like apples, pears, cherries, plums, and apricots. There are also brandies made from the solids (skins, stems, seeds) leftover from winemaking; these are known as pomace brandies. All of them have unique characteristics as well as a geographical indication (GI) in Europe, which basically means the regions that make them have authority over what they can be labelled as and how they can be produced. At the end of the day, these are all types of brandy because they are spirits made from fermented fruit. Let’s explore the styles together.

Pomace brandy relies on the wine industry, but it isn’t made from wine. Instead, after the juice is pressed from the wine grapes, the solids left behind are then taken and pressed again, steamed or washed to extract whatever remaining juice is there. The juice is then fermented and distilled like other spirits. 

This is a popular category in the Mediterranean. If it is made in Italy, it’s called grappa. In a regular liquor store, you will often see the same grapes listed on a bottle of grappa that you would see on a bottle of wine. For example, Brunello or Nebbiolo. That’s because some of the best grappa will come from regions that are renowned for their wines, like the towns of Montalcino or Barolo. It’s the same in France, where pomace brandy is called eaux-de-vie de marc. All over France, marc is produced, and some of the best comes from regions that are also respected for their wines like Champagne, Burgundy and Provence. 

Most “fruit brandy” (non-grape or non-wine brandy) isn’t called by that term, but by the region it’s from or by a local moniker. There is a famous type of apple brandy made in its namesake area, Calvados, France. A cherry brandy named kirsch is made primarily in Germany. Slivovitz is a kind of plum brandy in eastern Europe (its Slavic name translates to “plum vice”). There are so many more, but the thing to know about these is that in most cases they are clear and unaged, so don’t expect them to have any oak influence. But that doesn’t mean that they only taste like the fruit they’re made from. There are so many new flavors and aromas that are produced during the fermentation process that some people devote their whole careers to specializing in these spirits. 

(Note: never be afraid to use fruit brandies in cocktails. One of my original creations is called the “Kirsch On The Cheek.” It calls for 2oz. vodka, 1oz. kirsch, 1oz. lime juice and 0.5oz. simple syrup. Shake it with lots of ice and serve it up in a chilled Martini glass with a cherry to garnish.) 

(A Kirsch On The Cheek gets its light pink color from the lime and maraschino cherry syrup.)

Next, let’s talk about wine-based brandies. There are far too many to name all of them, but we can discuss a few important ones: Pisco, brandy de Jerez, Cognac and Armagnac. 

Pisco is a famous South American brandy that has been produced in Chile and Peru since the early eighteenth century. Each country zealously defends their claim to its birthplace, and yet its production methods are different between the two. For one thing, Pisco Chileno can be made from pomace or from wine, while Pisco Perú is made from wine must. The grapes that can be used differ as well, although both primarily use Moscatel (Peruvian pisco uses “aromatic” and “nonaromatic” grape categories, wherein Moscatel is considered aromatic). Pisco Chileno can be aged in oak barrels, but Pisco Perú can never be oaked. Thus, when looking for pisco it is important to check which country it comes from in order to know what to expect. 

Although it’s a national drink in both Chile and Peru, “pisco sour” does not mean the same thing in both countries. Because of its international popularity, if you ask a bartender for a pisco sour you will likely get the Peruvian version, which has a foamy egg-white head and bitters dashed atop it. Its recipe is identical to a boston sour, with pisco replacing the whiskey, of course, and with lime juice instead of lemon. Generally, you can have some leeway in the selection, though, like the kind of limes or the simple syrup. But the Chilean version focuses on fewer, specific ingredients; Pisco Chileno, granulated sugar, and pica lime juice (limón de pica). No egg whites are used in the Chilean pisco sour, and no bitters. Contrary to what many believe, powdered sugar is not included in the original recipe of the Chilean pisco sour either. Again, the pisco sour that most people are familiar with today was created in the 1920s at the Bar Morris in Lima, Peru. But the Chilean version was probably being served at bars in Iquique by the 1870s. 

Brandy de Jerez is an esteemed brandy made in the south of Spain. The overwhelming majority of brandy de Jerez is produced from the grape, Airén, grown in La Mancha, but it is distilled and aged near the southern coast where there are readily available Oloroso and PX sherry casks for use. In fact, according to its GI regulations, brandy de Jerez must be aged inside the so-called “Sherry Triangle,” or the three towns of Jerez, Sanlúcar and Puerto de Santa Maria. 

Like it was in France, brandy production here also started because of Spain’s trade with Holland. Originally, the brandy was clear and unaged, referred to as holandas because much of it was purchased and exported by Dutch merchants. Today, “holandas” is a term for eau-de-vie that is distilled no higher than 70% ABV in order to keep the original flavors of the wine, and the best brandy de Jerez is required to be 100% holandas. This high-quality brandy is labelled Solera Gran Reserva, and although the minimum aging requirement for it is three years, the average age is often twelve to fifteen years. 

Finally, let’s talk about Cognac and Armagnac. These two incredible regions are located near the area of Bordeaux, just above it on the coast (Cognac) and below it, more inland (Armagnac). 

The two are quite different, but share a few common features. They are similar in that they are both wine based and aged in European oak casks for years prior to bottling. Their differences stem from climate, soil and culture. You see, cognac is required to be produced within the area surrounding the Charente river. This position allows for cool, maritime winds to slow the ripening of the grapes and provide ideal conditions for the brandy to age. The soil is also very chalky, giving the grapes a naturally high acidity and minerality. Armagnac is produced closer to the Basque region, has more woodland, and is warmer. As a result, oak extraction is very high in armagnac, and it is traditionally aged for much longer than cognac is. The best armagnacs are full-bodied and rich, and will have readily detectable tannin and rancio. By contrast, most cognac is aged between two and four years, so it will be fresher and sweeter with aromas of plum, peach, apple and pear dominating the profile. However, the most expensive and rarest cognacs will be aged for longer than fifty years. 

(Note: Sometimes, a thing might not be good for one product but is ideal for another. Case in point, the trebbiano grape in Italy is low in alcohol and high in acidity, which is typically bad for wine. Back in the 80s, trebbiano made up high percentages in Chianti, which diluted the wine and would have led to an international reputation of poor quality had the region not limited how much trebbiano can be used. But that doesn’t mean trebbiano is a “bad grape.” In France, the same varietal is known as ugni blanc and without it we would not have cognac or armagnac, for the characteristics that make it bad for wine make it perfect for brandy.) 

Age-statements for cognac are not listed in the number of years, but in acronyms. I’ve already mentioned that most cognac is aged between two and four years. If it is aged for two years you will see VS on the label, which means Very Special. VSOP is the designation for four year old brandy, which means Very Superior Old Pale. XO stands for Extra Old, and has the minimum of ten years in oak, while XXO refers to fourteen years or more. (Sometimes you will see Napoléon listed on the label. This means that the youngest addition to the blend is at least six years old and is named in honor of the emperor for his love of cognac, which he had shipped to himself in large quantities while in exile.)

Meanwhile, armagnac commonly neither lists its age in the number of years nor in acronyms, but in vintages. Great armagnac will be produced from the wine of a single year, and is released in small batches after a decade or two of aging. It is often undiluted before bottling, so it will have a higher ABV than your typical cognac, and is robust in flavor. That said, sometimes you will see VS written on an armagnac label, but it refers to a minimum of one year in oak, not two. 

There are so many types of brandy that we don’t have time for, such as brandies from South Africa, Greece, Hungary, Armenia, Germany and the United States. But this article is meant to inspire you to explore the category more, and to give you a few key terms to have in mind while doing so. If you come from a whiskey background, consider substituting aged brandy in famous whiskey cocktails like these.

At the end of the day, my purpose for writing articles like this one is to give you free insight into the world of booze. So, I’ve made information available to you here that I had to spend quite a lot of resources and time acquiring. 

On behalf of Distillare, I hope it benefits you as a consumer of brandewijn.

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