Best South American: Singani 63 at Drizly. Brandy, put simply, is a spirit distilled from fruit. And, like most major categories of spirits, there are a variety of different styles to choose from.
Franky Marshall. With bottles from artisan producers to world-renowned brands, here are the best brandies to drink right now. This is one such bottle whose flavor profile impresses her. It is a blend of over eaux-de-vie, aged for up to 30 years in young barrels, which impart their oak character to the spirit. Candied orange, cherry and dark chocolate notes mingle with the vanilla and peppery spice of the casks, which are present in the long, warm finish. This multi-vintage tribute to Hine's founder, Thomas Hine, reflects the days when barrels were shipped from sunny France to chilly, wet England, where slower aging brought depth to the spirit.
The result? Read Next : The Best Cognacs. Need a suggestion on how to use it? Gliding over the palate with a burnt-sugar charisma that resolves in an apricot-bright finish, it recalls the early days of classic cocktails when brandy was the complex base spirit. Perhaps the greatest cru, or vineyard area, for growing the grapes that are distilled for French brandy is Borderies, an area of the Cognac region.
Notes of fig and walnuts balance out the zest. Some apple brandies can be cloying, while some too tart. But this bottle from distiller Dan Farber is the perfect balance between the two. This line of singani in particular was created by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh. Swap it in for the pisco in a pisco sour. Plus, the cognac is flavorful enough that a little goes a long way. This bottle is made using wine from estate-grown palomino fino grapes distilled in centuries-old copper alembic pots, then aged for a minimum of 12 years.
California is an emergent region for the spirit nowadays, but Germain Robin has been making luscious brandy there for nearly 40 years, since the day when one of the founders picked the other one up hitchhiking. Back in , Martell was the first producer in Cognac to ship brandy to the United States.
Now the house gets even cozier with the U. It adds dimension to an Old Fashioned. The best brandy can feel like a once-in-a-lifetime sip.
Brandy is a spirit distilled from fruit. Grapes, apples, pears, berries of all kinds—There is a wide variety of raw materials to choose from. Some brandies are left unaged. They are clear, intense distillates that show the character of fresh fruit.
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Jacki has been with Cognac Expert from virtually the beginning. She's the senior editor of the blog, and has spent much of her life living in rural France.
Today she's based back in the UK, where she splits her working life between writing for Cognac Expert and working as a Paramedic at a large regional hospital. Just two things 1. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. French Brandy France is a big country. The terrors of the Cognac region 2. Armagnac Brandy Armagnac is also a grape brandy from South West France, but a little further South, extending into the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains.
Discover more in our article, Armagnac Brandy: All you need to know A very old bottle of Armabganc 3. Calvados Heading further north, to the region of Normandy, one can find an apple spirit called Calvados.
Map of Calvados Appellation Spanish Brandy Spain has a long, long history of distilling brandy—the art was introduced to the area by the Moors in the 8 th century.
Brandy de Jerez To qualify as a Brandy de Jerez the brandy must be aged in casks that have held sherry in the past and that use a solera system for aging. Glasses of Obstler brandy 6. A Pisco sour cocktail — made with egg white, Pisco brandy, lime juice and syrup. Photo courtesy of Marcelo Sabbatini Another confusing fact is that Pisco made in Peru cannot be sold in Chile, and vice versa.
Armenian Brandy The small country of Armenia is the birthplace of some rather good brandies. Some balloon glasses of Ararat brandy made in Armenia. Image Courtesy: Aram Orbelyan 8. South African Brandy Another grape brandy, the spirit produced in South Africa can be both pot still distilled and column still distilled. South African brandy tasting. Photo courtesy of Bill Abrams 9.
These brandies are best enjoyed when mixed into cocktails. These brandies are known for being more mellow than previous categories thanks to their time spent in barrels. A vintage brandy is the best of the best and should only be sipped neat.
The first step to enjoying brandy is to drink it at room temperature. To drink brandy the classic way, leave the bottle on the counter for around an hour before drinking and then pour it into a tulip glass; the best glass used to savour the spirit. Its bowl and rim shape is specially designed to allow the spirit to hit the correct part of your tongue while delivering the aromas straight to your nose.
Hold the bowl of the glass in your hand to gently warm the liquid, before sniffing from above the rim of the glass. Then, take small sips of brandy, allowing it to roll around your mouth before swallowing. High quality brandies and cognacs can be sipped neat and are best enjoyed that way, while a value brandy is the perfect accompaniment to classic cocktails like the Sidecar.
Some people choose to heat their brandy slightly with a candle, by holding the bowl of the glass above a small candle for a moment or two. The bottle can still be stored indefinitely, resulting in only a few subtle changes to the flavour of the liquid.
The high alcohol content of brandy means that it will remain safe to consume for some time, making it an ideal spirit to invest in. Cognac was a traditional staple cocktail ingredient and the craft cocktail industry is seeing a recent resurgence for the spirit. That means a good bottle of brandy or Cognac is an important purchase for your bar cart. The traditional brandy-based cocktail is the Sidecar, made up of your brandy of choice often Cognac , orange liqueur and lemon juice.
Other popular brandy-based cocktails include the Manhattan; created by mixing brandy with sweet vermouth and simple syrup, and the Champagne Cocktail, produced by mixing brandy with Champagne for an elegant twist. Orange, cranberry and lime juice are also excellent choices. For more traditional mixers, a brandy and coke is a popular request, while mixing brandy with lemonade releases more citrus notes. In , the brand was given the royal accord — the seal of the French royal family and has been around for close to years.
Martell is a Cognac house founded in by Jean Martell and is another pinnacle of the brandy industry. Combining place, precision and time, Martell uses Ugni Blanc grapes from the Charente region near the Atlantic coast to give the brand its characteristic aromas. This distinctive style puts Martell at the forefront of the brandy industry and has done for many years.
Courvoisier uses a traditional distillation process and handcrafted barrels to produce its Cognac, ensuring that each and every bottle meets its strict quality requirements. It also maintains a close relationship with each and every one of its vine growers. Before bottling its Cognac, Courvoisier separates its liquid and uses only the clean and pure liquid from the middle. Hennessy is an expensive brand for a reason: it uses a long and sophisticated method for producing its offerings, using locally grown Ugni White grapes and a distillation process that has remained unchanged for centuries.
It double distils all of its offerings and rotates each barrel throughout the ageing process to achieve optimum exchanging of flavour. A favourite among mixologists and brandy lovers, Germain Robin is a premium brandy producer from Ukiah, California. Germain Robin crafts its spirits with traditional alembic cognac stills but uses unconventional, flavourful and complex California wine grapes.
It blends artisanal methods and excellent workmanship to push its brandy to new heights. Brandy snifter : The traditional glass used for drinking brandy. This is the best way to enjoy brandy for all of its delicate flavours, thanks to the shape of the glass. The large surface area releases the aromas of the spirit while the short foot encourages you to hold it by the bowl, warming the brandy slightly.
Congeners : The impurities stripped from a spirit during the distillation process. Cru : The growing region of the grapes or fruit used to produce the brandy. Eau de vie : The clear, colourless fruit brandy produced after the fermentation and double distillation period.
Grande Champagne : A French district, otherwise known as a cru, known for its Cognac. The Grande Champagne region is regarded as the best and most respected region, followed by the Petite Champagne. These bottles are very expensive due to their rarity and age. The beauty of brandy lies in its ageing process, making this element of its production arguably the most important.
We looked into the region where each brandy or cognac was produced and then, especially for cognacs, looked at the quality of grape used and which cru its grapes originated from. We took into account the authority and popularity of each brand, its range of offerings and its distillation method. The smoothest brandy is Martell XO. Enjoy it for a wonderful drinking experience, with notes of rancio, citrus, blossom and walnut when tasting and an aroma of black pepper, fig, almond and sandalwood.
This brandy is known for its internationally renowned guarantee of quality and intense bouquet of flavours like cinnamon and vanilla.
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