Basics of Brandy

What is Brandy?

Brandy is one of the most well known distilled spirits and has a reputation for elegance and luxury. When I think of brandy I imagine wealthy Dickensian characters decanting a fine French brandy as they lie in repose or receive visitors in their parlors. Brandy’s sub-variants, Cognac and the lesser-known Armagnac elevate this image of sophistication – one imagines the super-wealthy watching the Monaco Grand Prix and alternating their champagne with Cognac.

This air of exclusivity and the confusion of brandy’s variants can make it an intimidating spirit to try. But with all things, there’s no reason to feel intimidated. With a little information, an open mind, and a functioning palate, anyone can learn to appreciate brandy.

First, what is brandy? Brandy is a spirit distilled from wine or from fermented fruit mash; usually, fruit brandies are called “apple brandy,” “peach brandy,” etc. When someone just says, “brandy,” they are usually referring to the type distilled from wine.[1] Cognac and Armagnac are to brandy as scotch and bourbon are to whisky.

Cognac

Cognac is probably the most famous variety of brandy. To be a cognac, the brandy must be made from grapes grown around the Cognac region of France in the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. The grapes must be a blend that is majority Ugni Blanc but with amounts of Colombard and Folle Blanche as needed. It must be double-distilled in copper pot stills, and aged for a minimum of 2 years in Limousin or Troncais oak barrels, and be bottled at a minimum of 40% ABV.[2]

The next most enigmatic thing about cognac is its aging designations. You often see bottles of cognac at the store with letters like VS, VSOP, XO . . . it seems almost as mysterious as Harley-Davidson’s model-lettering scheme. This is what these designations mean:

· VS – Very Special; The youngest varietal used must be at least 2 years old.

· VSOP – Very Superior Old Pale; the youngest varietal must be at least 4 years old.

· Napoleon – the youngest varietal must be at least 6 years old

· XO – Extra Old– the youngest varietal used must be at least 10 years old

Those are the basics of Cognac, but the process of creation is much more complex, and the art of blending and care taken in production are what make cognacs so sought after. After distillation, the distillate now called “eau de vie” (water of life) is transferred into a barrel for aging. Every year, the master blender takes his Eau de vies and sets different batches aside to age in barrels for different amounts of time. As stated this can be as short as two years, but can also last for up to 60 years. When the blender decides a particular eau de vie has aged enough, he/she will move it from the barrel to a glass demi-john. The wax seal on this glass vessel basically stops the aging process. They can store these demi-johns indefinitely with no loss of quality to the eau de vie. When a blender feels a particular eau de vie will complement a particular blend, he/she will incorporate the varietal from that demi-john into the blend. This makes it possible to have cognacs with Eau de vies over 200 years old! Going back to our age designations, a VS could have varietals of any age, but it’s youngest is two years. Some of your finer cognacs can have up to 40 or more varietals blended together, creating a consistent, rich palate. This speaks volumes about the talent and sensitivity of the blender. The rareness of some types of these special cognacs lends even more prestige to their reputations.

Armagnacs

Armagnac is cognac’s less well known, but equally talented sibling. Think Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughn – both are guitar legends, but everyone knows Stevie Ray, and only a few of us guitar fiends know about Jimmie. Until recently, few in the US knew about Armagnac, but that is changing, as more people start recognizing Armagnac.

Unlike cognac, Armagnac is distilled once through a column still (technically each plate in a column still counts as a distillation, so perhaps it’s more accurate to say it’s produced in a single run). Historically roving distillers would travel to local farmers and offer to distill their wine into brandy.[3] That sounds way better than any other delivery service we have today! Armagnac comes from Gascony and is usually made from grapes including Baco22A, Colombard, Folle Blanche, and Ugni Blanc.[4]

The single run, coupled with a higher typical ABV of around 52% results in a spirit that is more flavorful and less subtle than cognac. Over-all production of Armagnac is still much smaller than that of cognac; additionally, it is made by numerous smaller producers, as opposed to cognac which is produced in larger quantities and is dominated by a few larger houses (Courvoisier, Remy Martin, etc.)

Tasting Notes

So what do the varieties of brandy ACTUALLY taste like? I raided our liquor cabinet for a few of our offerings so I could share my tasting notes. Note on tasting notes: my palate will be different from yours, and it’s very different from the Mossy Muse’s, so try some of these at your convenience and see how they taste to you! One last thing – to save repetition know that you can detect a fruity note in each of these that lets you know it comes from grapes, as opposed to the grain-based tones you’ll get in a whisky.

Brandy

For a non-cognac, non-Armagnac, simple good old-fashioned brandy, I selected Carlos Primero (Carlos I). This is a Spanish brandy aged using the famous solera system. The bottle I have was actually my father’s, which means it’s between 30 and 40 years old. It has aged spectacularly. The nose presents vanilla and honey with hints of warm spices like cinnamon. Traces of perfume also permeate the smell. The taste is incredibly smooth with warm buttery and molasses flavors coating the tongue. Mix in some slight herbal bitterness like anise. Be careful because this one goes down really easily.

Cognac

The first cognac we’ll discuss is a VSOP from Kelt called Tour Du Monde. The final part of the aging process for this cognac involved loading the barrels onto a sailing sending them around the world. The ocean movement was supposed to affect and accelerate the maturation process. The first sniffing notes are intense with maple syrup. This gives way to flowers like roses. The first taste has a slight bite with sweet fruit notes which gives way to an almost bitter syrupy finish.

Our next offering from the cognac world will be Remy Martin XO. Remy Martin is one of the “Big Four” cognac houses along with Hennessy, Courvoisier, and Martell. The XO is probably their most prestigious mainstream product and boasts a blending of over 40 Eau de vies. The nose is very subtle with hints of ripe stone fruits like cherries or currants. It seems intermingled with the smells you’d imagine at a fine French perfumery. The nosing tones carry to the taste, with a delightfully unexpected hit of vanilla at the very end. It’s well balanced between sweetness and fruit with a sophisticated perfume note.

Our third cognac is Hardy’s XO Rare. I’ve discussed Hardy cognac before on our YouTube Channel. It’s a smaller almost boutique producer. Like the Remy, its nose is full of ripe stone fruits, but more forward. You can definitely tell it started life as a wine. Mild cinnamon notes come through as well. The taste moves from currants and dried cherries to vanilla and segues into light baking spices. Its smoothness is striking. Subtlety is the theme of this cognac as it drifts from note to note. This is a fascinating challenge to your palate.

Armagnac

We’ll end with Armagnac because as a single run column distillate, it has the most forward flavors. Armagnac is still made by many smaller producers, so you’ve probably never heard of either of the Armagnac’s we’ll discuss here. The first is Armagnac Tenareze from Chateau du Busca. It was distilled in 1978 and aged for 38 years in oak barrels. The dried fruit notes are indeed more intense in the initial nosing. The alcohol smell is also stronger despite it only being 42% ABV. Subsequent nosings bring images of currants and cherries from a fruit cake or even a panettone. The taste is intense compared to cognac with the initial fruitiness giving way to herbal tones like basil and thyme. A hint of the cask also comes through as it finishes. Despite all of this intensity, the overall finish is very smooth.

Since it’s Monday night as of this writing, I will have to end our tasting with a final Armagnac. For this, I have selected Chateau de Laubade’s BAS Armagnac. Distilled in 1975 and bottled in 2019, this spirit is literally as old as The Mossy Muse and me. The first nosing makes me think of ice cream with cherries because of a sweet vanilla note that overlays tart fruits. Sweet vanilla tones permeate the taste which yields to brighter tarter tones which then transition back to caramel as it finishes out.

While each of these brandies offers its own unique flavors, you can tell each one is related in the larger family of brandy. Overall a fruit note underlies all of the other brilliant flavors that have come together through the blender and cooper’s arts. I would caution however that though there are exceptions to every rule, age generally correlates with quality for brandy. Older spirits tend to have more subtle characteristics, smoother textures, and more complex characters. While the older varieties may cost more, the quality justifies their value.

References -

[1] Encyclopedia Britannica - Brandy [2] Wine Magazine - Ten Secrets about Cognac [3] Wine Magazine - What you need to know about Armagnac vs Cognac [4] Wikipedia - Armagnac