Brandy is defined as any spirit made from a fruit. The most popular fruits used for brandies are high-sugar ones like grapes, apples, pears, and stone fruits such as apricots, plums, cherries, etc.
Grape
Grapes are the most popular fruits used to make brandy worldwide, with production ranging from the Cognac and Armagnac regions in France, grappa in Italy, Pisco in Peru, and a host of American-made brandies in California wine country and beyond. Surely the ancient and ubiquitous tradition of wine-making had an influence on the abundance of grape-based distilled spirits.
Cardenal Mendoza Brandy de Jerez
Brandy de Jerez. This is my first bottle of Brandy de Jerez, picked up at the Barcelona airport duty free shop...the perfect boozy souvenir for a trip to Spain, right? I spent an embarrassingly long [...]
Copper & Kings American Brandy
Copper & Kings American Brandy. I've previously talked about all sorts of different brandies, from dry fruit brandies like Barack Pálinka to brandy liqueurs like Apricot liqueur to American applejack to European region-of-origin controlled Calvados and [...]
Delord 25 Year Armagnac
Delord 25 year Armagnac. Wow, this is surprisingly my first ever bottle talk on the wonderful, beautiful spirit of Armagnac. Where to start… Armagnac is a French grape brandy, similar to Cognac but made in [...]
Encanto Pisco
Pisco. While recently seeking out my first bottle of pisco, I chatted with a bartender at the incredible Canon Seattle, who recommended Encanto, so here we are. Most widely known for its use in the Pisco [...]
Kissing a Stranger Brandy
Kissing a Stranger Brandy from Belgrove Distillery. HOLY CRAP, guys. I'm sure some may have had those crazy wild nights guided by the name of this bottle, but I don't think I've ever felt as [...]
Nonino Grappa
Nonino Grappa. While some may be familiar with the Nonino Amaro Quintessentia, it's a bit less noted that it’s an amaro (Italian bittersweet liqueur) made from a base of grappa. And that the Nonino company [...]
Remy Martin VSOP Cognac
Remy Martin VSOP Cognac. I bought this in the early days of the homebar while searching for a cognac to fill the collection and admittedly haven't ventured away (though I really want to get my [...]
Sibona Grappa Reserva
Sibona Grappa Reserva, Port Cask Finished. Grappa has quite the reputation as a…harsh and rough spirit…for many who have encountered it on vacation in Italy. It's associated with the older generation of Italians, and is [...]
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Apple
Outside of grapes, apples are another popular fruit used to make brandies. Products include American applejack & apple brandy and French Calvados.
Calvados Domfrontais
Calvados Domfrontais. This was my birthday bottle treat to myself, and it was SO delicious I literally drank like a quarter of the bottle in one day (oops). The French really know how to do [...]
Calvados Pays d’Auge
Roger Groult Calvados Pays d'Auge. Calvados is a spirit you may not be familiar with, but should be! Calvados is an apple brandy (spirit distilled from apples, sometimes pears) from France that's regulated by an appellation (which [...]
Laird’s Applejack
Laird's Applejack. Laird's is the oldest licensed distillery of applejack, a truly American spirit deeply rooted in the appletree-abundant colonial northeast. During a time when clean water was limited, early colonists turned to hard beverages, [...]
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Other
Brandy is a generic name for any spirit made from a fruit, so there are many other types of brandies to be found, made from fruits like pears, apricots, plums, cherries, raspberries, and more!
Zwack Pecsetes Barack Pálinka
Zwack Pecsetes Barack Pálinka, aka Hungarian Apricot Brandy. This was one of my very first bottles of the non-standard stuff after starting out with my homebar. I saw a lot of recipes calling for "apricot [...]
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