| Brandy & Cognac is wine that has been distilled.
The most important thing to know is that all Cognac is brandy,
but not all brandy is Cognac. Cognac is made from grapes grown
in the Cognac region of France and brandy can be made from
any fruit anywhere. |
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Cognac uses grapes from Cognac, that are distilled
twice then poured into oak casks made from Limousin or Troncais
oak. Limousin and Troncais are forests in the Cognac region
of France. The aging process is very expensive because almost
60% of the Cognac evaporates. |
| A term called The Angels Portion or
the Angels Share is associated with the evaporation.
They say that when you visit Cognac, you can actually smell
the evaporating cognac in the air from the casks below. |
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Popular Cognac brands are; Courvoisier (core-VAS-see-A)
, Hennessy (HEN-na-see) , Martell (mar-TELL) , and Remy Martin. |
THE KING OF COGNACS
King Louis the XIII produced by Remy Martin is considered
the King of Cognacs. Only grapes from the Grande Champagne
region are used and it's aged in barrels that are several
hundred years old. It can range in age from 40 to 100 years
and it's packaged in a Baccarat crystal bottle. It sells for
$1500 or more and in bars across the globe it can sell for
$120-$300 a serving. |
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Every Cognac bottle is graded and the grade is put
on the label. Maurice Hennessey was the first to begin a labeling
system for Cognacs in 1865. The grades include:
VS Very Special- also known as three star and aged for a minimum
of 3 years.
VSOP Very Superior Old Pale also known as five star and ages for
five years.
XO Extra Old aged for six plus years.
Cognac Facts
| Courvoisier was Napoleon’s favorite Cognac. In 1869
graned Courvoisier the title of Official Supplier to the Imperial
Court. |
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Grand Marnier is a Cognac- based orange liqueur that was invented
in 1880 by Louis Alexandre Marnier-Lapostolle. |
Brandy
The word brandy comes the Dutch word brandewijn,
meaning burnt wine.
Brandy has a short stemmed big bowled curvy glass named after
it called a brandy snifter. Another taller stemmed glass is used
in high end bars called a tulip glass.
Spanish missionaries brought brandy to California.
The most popular grape brandies are; Armagnac, (ar-mahn-YAK) and
Pisco (PEE-skoh) from South America. Armagnac (ar-mahn-YAK) Fine
French Brandy from Gascony. Cognac’s only real rival. Comes
in Three Star, V.S.O.P, Napoleon, Extra, and Hors d’ Age.
The most popular fruit brandies are; applejack from America, Calvados
(KAL-vah-dohs) apple brandy from France, Framboise (frahm-BWAHZ)
raspberry brandy from France, Kirsch (KEERSH) cherry brandy from
Germany, Poire (PWAHR) a Swiss pear brandy, and Slivovitz (SLIHV-uh-vihts)
a German plum brandy.
Pomace Brandy is made from the residue of wine, stems and seeds.
The most popular are Grappa (GRAHP-pah) from Italy and Marc from
France.
The most popular drinks made with brandy are; Stinger, Brandy
Alexander, Apricot Sour, Between the Sheets, and Sidecar.
| Some bars only serve 1 1/2 ounces and others
serve 2 ounces pricing accordingly. Still others turn a brandy
snifter on its side and pour until the spirit reaches the
rim then sets back upright. Brandy snifters can range from
5 ounces to 23 ounces. |
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Fortified Wines
Way back when brandy was added to wines (fortify)
to help preserve them for long sea voyages.
Port
Port is made in the Douro Valley, which is in North Portugal,
however other countries make versions of it. It was invented out
of the need to have wine that could survive long sea voyages without
spoiling. It was the first fortified wine by adding brandy to
it then aged. A proper serving is 2 1/2 -3 ounces.
Here are two basic groups of port, wood-aged and bottle-aged.
The most popular wood aged ports found in most bars are tawny
and ruby. Ruby is sweeter then tawny.
Popular port brands are; Sandeman, Lindemans, and Noval.
Sherry
Most sherry comes from Jerez, in Southwest Spain. It also has
brandy added to fortify and preserve it. There are two types of
sherry; fino (fee-NO, light and dry) and oloroso (O-lo-ROW-so,
dark and full-bodied). A proper serving is 2 1/2-3 ounces.
Sherry is made with the solera system. Basically, wine is taken
from the young sherry casks and blended with the wine in the older
sherry casks and visa versa. They say that the young wine refreshes
the old wine and old wine educates young ones.
Popular sherry brands are; Dry Sack and Harvey’s Bristol
Cream.
Madeira (ma-DEER-uh)
Madeira fortified wine is produced from grapes grown on southern
coast of Madeira Island, which is about 360 miles west of Morocco
in Northern Africa and 540 miles southwest from Portugal. Portugal
has owned it since only 1974.
The first thing you should know about Madeira is that was used
to toast the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Madeira
was looked upon as something very magical and special. To reach
the New World, ships had to pass through the tropics and the heat
literally baked the Madeira giving it a soft yet deep pleasant
burnt taste. Soon pipes filled with Madeira were installed with
ship ballasts and sent on tropical voyages. The heat mixed with
the constant rocking made this wine last for years without spoiling.
Vermouth
Vermouth is a fortified white wine that has a spirit added (usually
brandy) then aromatized with herbs and botanicals like seeds,
plants, flowers, etc. It comes in two types; dry (white) and sweet
(red). Sweet vermouth has caramelized sugar added to make it sweet
and give it its color.
The most popular drinks made with vermouth are a classic Martini
and Manhattan.
Popular brands are; Martini & Rossi (Italy), Cinzano (Italy),
and Noilly Prat (Noy-ee praht, France).
Dubonnet (America) and Lillet (lee-LAY, France) are aperitif wines,
but are often used in the place of vermouth in Martinis. The most
popular Martini that uses Kina Lillet is from Ian Fleming’s
first book, Casino Royale where James Bond asks for a Dry Martini
in a deep Champagne goblet. He says; three measures of Gordon's,
one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well
until it's ice-cold, and then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel.
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