BRANDY

This “burnt wine” can be made from any fruit, and in fact it is - all over the world! The type of brandy is determined by the varietal and region. The most famous of these varieties is Cognac (pronounced ‘cone-yak’) - named after the town in France from whereabouts it derives its grapes. Cognac is double-distilled in pot stills and aged in French Limousin oak. Armagnac, the older but lesser-known relative of Cognac named for its native territory in southwest France, uses column stills for a single distillation that yields a spirit of roughly 52% ABV - meaning it doesn’t require dilution with water. For both of these brandies, these classifications apply to their time spent in a barrel:

‘VS’ = aged at least two years

‘VSOP’ = aged at least three years

‘XO’ = minimum ten years

‘Hors d’age’ = ‘beyond age’ - essentially, at least ten years but likely more.

The APPELLATION D’ORGINE CONTROLEE (AOC), which translates as “controlled designation of origin”, is the French certification grated to certain geographical indications for wine, cheese, butters, and other agricultural products. There is strict oversight and quality control over the spirits and beverages that come from France, to protect not only from diseases like the one that swept through French vineyards in the late 1800’s but from inferior impostures soiling the reputation of some of mankind’s finest contributions to the palette.

Yet, there are plenty of other examples of good brandy outside of France. Modern American producers, for one, aren’t trying to impress the French nor get the once-coveted ‘Bourbon’ stamp, so there are plenty of distilleries propped near apple, pear, and peach tree orchards turning the fruits of their labor into very delicious brandy.

PISCO

A development of Spanish settlers in 17th century Peru, this double pot-stilled ‘brandy’ goes un-aged, and is otherwise distinguished by the grape species (and blends thereof) that are fermented before distillation. It was somewhat innocently re-imagined by Chilean wine exporters in the early 1900s, who then gave their wine distillate a familiar name. Both countries consider Pisco to be their national drink, and both take the production very seriously with the government overseeing the quality control and classification processes in a fashion reminiscent of the AOC in France.