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Brandy
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with caramel colouring to imitate the effect of ageing, and some are produced using a combination of ageing and colouring. Varieties of wine brandy can be found across the winemaking world. Among the most renowned are Cognac and Armagnac from southwestern France.
In a broader sense, the term brandy also denotes liquors obtained from the distillation of pomace (yielding pomace brandy), or mash or wine of any other fruit (fruit brandy). These products are also called eau de vie (literally "water of life" in French).
The origins of brandy are tied to the development of distillation. While the process was known in classical times, it was not significantly used for beverage production until the 15th century. In the early 16th-century French brandy helped kickstart the cross-Atlantic triangle trade when it took over the central role of the Portuguese fortified wine due to its higher alcohol content and ease of shipping. Canoemen and guards on the African side of the trade were generally paid in brandy. By the late 17th century, the cheaper rum had replaced brandy as the exchange alcohol of choice in the triangle trade.
Initially, wine was distilled as a preservation method and to make it easier for merchants to transport. It is also thought that wine was originally distilled to lessen the tax, which was assessed by volume. The intent was to add the water removed by distillation back to the brandy shortly before consumption. It was discovered that after being stored in wooden casks, the resulting product improved over the original distilled spirit. In addition to removing water, the distillation process led to the formation and decomposition of numerous aromatic compounds, fundamentally altering the distillate composition from its source. Non-volatile substances such as pigments, sugars, and salts remained behind in the still. As a result, the distillate taste was often quite unlike the sources.
As described in the 1728 edition of Cyclopaedia, the following method was used to distill brandy:
A cucurbit was filled half full of the liquor from which brandy was to be drawn and then raised with a little fire until about one-sixth part was distilled, or until that which falls into the receiver was entirely flammable. This liquor, distilled only once, was called the spirit of wine or brandy. Purified by another distillation (or several more), this was called spirit of wine rectified. The second distillation was made in [a] balneo mariae and in a glass cucurbit, and the liquor was distilled to about one-half the quantity. This was further rectified as long as the operator thought it necessary to produce brandy.
To shorten these several distillations, which were long and troublesome, a chemical instrument was invented that reduced them to a single distillation. A portion was ignited to test the purity of the rectified spirit of wine. The liquor was good if a fire consumed the entire contents without leaving any impurities behind. Another, better test involved putting a little gunpowder in the bottom of the spirit. The liquor was good if the gunpowder could ignite after the spirit was consumed by fire. (Hence the modern "proof" to describe alcohol content.)
As most brandies have been distilled from grapes, the regions of the world producing excellent brandies have roughly paralleled those areas producing grapes for viniculture. At the end of the 19th century, the western European markets, including by extension their overseas empires, were dominated by French and Spanish brandies and eastern Europe was dominated by brandies from the Black Sea region, including Bulgaria, the Crimea, Georgia and Armenia. In 1877, the Ararat brandy brand was established in Yerevan, Armenia. It became one of the top brandy brands over time and during the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill was so impressed with the Armenian brandy Dvin given to him by Joseph Stalin that he asked for several cases of it to be sent to him each year. Reportedly 400 bottles of Dvin were shipped to Churchill annually. In 1884, David Sarajishvili founded a brandy factory in Tbilisi, Georgia, a crossroads for Turkish, Central Asian, and Persian trade routes and a part of the Russian Empire at the time.
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Brandy
Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with caramel colouring to imitate the effect of ageing, and some are produced using a combination of ageing and colouring. Varieties of wine brandy can be found across the winemaking world. Among the most renowned are Cognac and Armagnac from southwestern France.
In a broader sense, the term brandy also denotes liquors obtained from the distillation of pomace (yielding pomace brandy), or mash or wine of any other fruit (fruit brandy). These products are also called eau de vie (literally "water of life" in French).
The origins of brandy are tied to the development of distillation. While the process was known in classical times, it was not significantly used for beverage production until the 15th century. In the early 16th-century French brandy helped kickstart the cross-Atlantic triangle trade when it took over the central role of the Portuguese fortified wine due to its higher alcohol content and ease of shipping. Canoemen and guards on the African side of the trade were generally paid in brandy. By the late 17th century, the cheaper rum had replaced brandy as the exchange alcohol of choice in the triangle trade.
Initially, wine was distilled as a preservation method and to make it easier for merchants to transport. It is also thought that wine was originally distilled to lessen the tax, which was assessed by volume. The intent was to add the water removed by distillation back to the brandy shortly before consumption. It was discovered that after being stored in wooden casks, the resulting product improved over the original distilled spirit. In addition to removing water, the distillation process led to the formation and decomposition of numerous aromatic compounds, fundamentally altering the distillate composition from its source. Non-volatile substances such as pigments, sugars, and salts remained behind in the still. As a result, the distillate taste was often quite unlike the sources.
As described in the 1728 edition of Cyclopaedia, the following method was used to distill brandy:
A cucurbit was filled half full of the liquor from which brandy was to be drawn and then raised with a little fire until about one-sixth part was distilled, or until that which falls into the receiver was entirely flammable. This liquor, distilled only once, was called the spirit of wine or brandy. Purified by another distillation (or several more), this was called spirit of wine rectified. The second distillation was made in [a] balneo mariae and in a glass cucurbit, and the liquor was distilled to about one-half the quantity. This was further rectified as long as the operator thought it necessary to produce brandy.
To shorten these several distillations, which were long and troublesome, a chemical instrument was invented that reduced them to a single distillation. A portion was ignited to test the purity of the rectified spirit of wine. The liquor was good if a fire consumed the entire contents without leaving any impurities behind. Another, better test involved putting a little gunpowder in the bottom of the spirit. The liquor was good if the gunpowder could ignite after the spirit was consumed by fire. (Hence the modern "proof" to describe alcohol content.)
As most brandies have been distilled from grapes, the regions of the world producing excellent brandies have roughly paralleled those areas producing grapes for viniculture. At the end of the 19th century, the western European markets, including by extension their overseas empires, were dominated by French and Spanish brandies and eastern Europe was dominated by brandies from the Black Sea region, including Bulgaria, the Crimea, Georgia and Armenia. In 1877, the Ararat brandy brand was established in Yerevan, Armenia. It became one of the top brandy brands over time and during the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill was so impressed with the Armenian brandy Dvin given to him by Joseph Stalin that he asked for several cases of it to be sent to him each year. Reportedly 400 bottles of Dvin were shipped to Churchill annually. In 1884, David Sarajishvili founded a brandy factory in Tbilisi, Georgia, a crossroads for Turkish, Central Asian, and Persian trade routes and a part of the Russian Empire at the time.