What is brandy?

WHAT IS BRANDY?

The rich history of global exploration has shaped an array of sophisticated grape spirits that have had a profound and enduring impact on global culture and the world of fine beverages.

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The term "brandy" originates from the Dutch word "brandewijn," which means "burnt wine." This name is fitting because most brandies are produced by applying heat, traditionally from open flames, to wine. This process extracts and intensifies the naturally occurring alcohol in the wine. Since alcohol has a lower boiling point (172°F, 78°C) than water (212°F, 100°C), it can be evaporated while the water component of the wine remains in the still. The procedure of heating a liquid to separate its components with distinct boiling points is referred to as heat distillation.

Although brandies are typically crafted from wine or other fermented fruit juices, they can also be distilled from any liquid containing sugar. The key requirement is allowing the liquid to undergo fermentation without subjecting the resulting mildly alcoholic product to temperatures beyond the boiling point of water. When wine is distilled, it yields low-boiling point liquids that encompass nearly all of the alcohol, a small quantity of water, and many of the organic compounds present in the original wine. It is these organic compounds that impart the distinct taste and aroma to brandy.

Most countries have their own unique type of brandy, and interestingly, not all of them are made from grapes. For example, in Italy, they produce grappa from grape skins, while in Poland, slivovitz is made from plums. Japan's shochu is crafted from rice, and bourbon in the United States is created from corn. Beer brandy is more commonly recognized as Scotch whiskey. However, when it comes to the finest brandies, French cognacs, which are distilled from wine, are widely acknowledged as some of the best.

Brandy production is a straightforward process. It begins with fermenting a liquid, which is then heated to a temperature between the boiling point of ethyl alcohol and the boiling point of water. The vapors that rise from this process are gathered and cooled down. These cooled vapors primarily contain the alcohol from the original liquid, along with a portion of its water.

To further remove water from the mixture while preserving the alcohol, the distillation process can be repeated multiple times, depending on the desired alcohol content. This process is employed to create both high-quality and mass-produced brandy, resulting in significantly distinct final products.

History

The exact moment when people first realized that food could transform into alcohol through fermentation remains a mystery. Interestingly, this discovery seems to have coincided with the emergence of the earliest civilizations, suggesting a significant connection. During this time, Europeans found that apple and grape juices, both rich in fructose, would naturally ferment into hard cider and wine. In the Middle East, people learned that grains, containing maltose, could similarly ferment into beer, while in Asia, horse milk, with its lactose content, would ferment into a beverage called airag.

It's possible that the earliest form of distilled liquor was made from horse milk, with alcohol being separated from fermented horse milk by freezing out the water during the severe Mongolian winters.

The evolution of alcohol production also includes the discovery that the alcohol content in fermented liquids could be intensified through a process known as heat distillation. Distilled spirits have been traced back to India as far back as 800 B.C. In the eighth century, the Arabic scientist Jabir ibn Hayyan, also known as Geber in the Western world, provided a detailed account of distillation. Alcohol held immense importance in the ancient world, evident in Latin where brandy is referred to as "aqua vitae," meaning "water of life." The French still call brandy "eau de vie," with the same meaning. The word "whiskey" comes from the Gaelic phrase "uisge beatha," which also signifies "water of life." During the Middle Ages, people ascribed magical and medicinal properties to distilled spirits, often recommending it as a remedy for a wide range of health issues.

The Prohibition

The Eighteenth Amendment, which was passed, made it illegal to engage in the making, selling, transporting, importing, or exporting of liquor. Interestingly, it stands as the only constitutional amendment to ever be repealed, a change brought about by the Twenty-first Amendment.

The era of Prohibition, lasting from 1920 to 1933, had been a long time in the making. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century and continuing through the onset of World War I, a growing movement called for a complete ban on alcohol. When members of Congress finally yielded to the mounting pressure from Prohibition supporters and passed a constitutional amendment, many did so with the belief that it might not gain approval from the states. In fact, a clause was included to increase the chances of non-ratification: if three-quarters of the states did not endorse the amendment within seven years, it would be considered null and void.

The amendment was approved by Congress in December 1917 and received the ratification of three-quarters of the states by January 1919. However, the enthusiasm for this amendment rapidly waned once it went into effect. The unexpected banning of beer and wine through the Volstead Act of 1919 was not something many had foreseen, leading to widespread disillusionment with Prohibition. Crime rates increased as gangsters exploited the alcohol ban, making substantial profits through bootlegging and smuggling.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigned for the presidency in 1932, he advocated for the repeal of Prohibition. In contrast, his opponent, President Herbert Hoover, described it as "an experiment driven by noble motives." Roosevelt emerged victorious in the election, and his Democratic party gained control of the government. Within a few months, the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed.

Raw Materials

The primary ingredients in brandy production are liquids that contain some form of sugar. French brandies, for instance, are crafted from the wine made from St. Émillion, Colombard, or Folle Blanche grapes. Nevertheless, almost any fermentable substance can be distilled to create brandy. Grapes, apples, blackberries, sugar cane, honey, milk, rice, wheat, corn, potatoes, and rye are all commonly used for fermentation and distillation. In times of scarcity, people in dire need may even resort to substituting unconventional ingredients just to produce alcohol. An example of this occurred during World War II when individuals in London concocted wine from cabbage leaves and carrot peels, which they then distilled to create a presumably unpalatable form of brandy.

Heat, which is used to operate the stills, represents the other crucial ingredient needed for brandy production. In France, natural gas is typically employed to heat the stills. Back in the Middle Ages, producing 25 gallons (100 liters) of brandy would have required approximately 20 cubic feet of wood (0.6 cubic meters).

The Manufacturing Process

The primary goal of a skilled brandy maker is to capture the alcohol and the pleasant aromas of the original fruit while leaving behind all the unwanted tastes and bitter compounds in the wastewater. Crafting fine brandy is a delicate art that involves finding the right balance between eliminating undesirable flavors and preserving the unique characteristics of the fruit used. In contrast, mass-produced brandies are often created from a variety of sources because the main aim is to eliminate all flavors, whether good or bad, and produce a pure alcohol product, with the flavor being added later. Fine brandies, on the other hand, must maintain the concentrated essence of the original fruit.

The initial stage in the production of fine brandies involves fermenting the fruit juice, often grape juice. This process typically entails taking the juice, known as "must" in the distilling industry, and placing it in a large vat at a temperature range of 68-77°F (20-25°C), where it's left for about five days. During this time, the natural yeast present in the distillery environment works its magic, converting the sugars in the must into alcohol and carbon dioxide. In the case of most fine brandies made from white wine grapes, the fermentation process yields an alcohol content of roughly 10%.
Fine brandies are always made in small batches using pot stills. A pot still is simply a large pot, usually made out of copper, with a bulbous top.
The pot still is heated to the point where the fermented liquid reaches the boiling point of alcohol. The alcohol vapors, which contain a large amount of water vapor, rise in the still into the bulbous top.
The vapors from the pot still are directed through a curved pipe to a condenser, where they are cooled down, causing them to change back into a liquid form with a significantly higher alcohol content. The bulbous top and bent pipe serve a crucial function: they enable unwanted substances to condense and return to the still, preventing them from making their way into the final product.
Many fine brandy producers employ a process called double distillation, which means they concentrate the alcohol in their brandy twice. To give you an idea of the scale, it typically takes about 9 gallons (34 liters) of wine to yield 1 gallon (3.8 liters) of brandy. After the first distillation, a procedure lasting approximately eight hours, roughly 3,500 gallons (13,249 liters) of wine are transformed into approximately 1,200 gallons (4,542 liters) of concentrated liquid, which is not yet brandy but boasts an alcohol content ranging from 26% to 32%.In France, the second distillation, known as "la bonne chauffe," is limited to batches of 660 gallons (2,498 liters). The product resulting from the second distillation typically has an alcohol content of around 72%. The higher the alcohol content, the more neutral (lacking distinct taste) the brandy becomes. Conversely, lower alcohol content preserves more of the original flavors in the brandy, but it also increases the risk of unwanted flavors finding their way into the final product.
The brandy is not yet ready to drink after the second distillation. It must first be placed in oak casks and allowed to age, an important step in the production process. Most of the brandy available today, including fine brandy, is aged for less than six years. Nonetheless, certain fine brandies can mature for over 50 years. During the aging period, the brandy absorbs flavors from the oak casks while its own characteristics gradually mellow, resulting in a smoother taste. Over time, due to evaporation, brandy loses approximately 1% of its alcohol content each year during the initial 50 years or so of aging "on oak."
Fine brandy can be ready for bottling after two years, some after six years, and others may not be ready for several decades. Some French cognacs are said to date back to the era of Napoleon, but these assertions are likely not accurate. A strategy employed by cognac makers involves regularly extracting 90% of the cognac from an aged barrel and refilling it with younger brandy. Repeating this process multiple times can ultimately dilute any remnants of brandy from the Napoleonic period.
Fine brandies are usually blended from many different barrels over a number of vintages. Some cognacs can contain brandy from up to a 100 different barrels. Because most brandies have not spent 50 years in the barrel, which would naturally reduce their alcohol contents to the traditional 40%, the blends are diluted with distilled water until they reach the proper alcohol concentration. To impart the illusion of aging in younger brandies, a small amount of sugar is added, along with a touch of caramel to ensure consistent color throughout the production.

The resulting product can vary significantly in price, with some ranging from $25 to as high as $500 or even more for exceptionally rare brandy.

Mass Produced Brandy

Mass-produced brandy, aside from sharing a similar alcohol content, bears little resemblance to fine brandy. Both varieties originate from wine, although mass-produced brandies often employ table grape varieties like Thompson Seedless, rather than the premium wine grapes used in fine brandy production. Instead of the meticulous double distillation process performed in small batches, mass-produced brandies are crafted through fractional distillation in column stills. These column stills are sometimes referred to as continuous stills since the raw material is continuously introduced at the top, while the final product and wastes continuously emerge from the side and bottom.

A column still stands at approximately 30 feet (9 meters) in height and consists of a series of connected horizontal, hollow baffles. In this apparatus, hot wine is introduced at the uppermost point of the column, while steam is passed through the hollow baffles. It's important to note that the steam and wine do not directly mix. Within this process, the alcohol and other low boiling point liquids in the wine evaporate. These vapors ascend, while the non-alcoholic components descend. Due to variations in temperature along the height of the still, the ascending vapors eventually reach a section where they condense, with each type of vapor condensing at a temperature just above its individual boiling point.

Once these recondensed liquids form, they start moving downward within the still. As they fall, they boil again. This process of boiling and condensing, rising and falling, happens over and over again in the column. The various components of the wine fraction and collect in the column where the temperature is just below the boiling point of that component. This allows the ethyl alcohol condensate to be bled out of the column at the height where it collects. The resulting product is a pure spirit, colorless, odorless, and tasteless, with an alcohol content of about 96.5%. At 96.5% alcohol, it can be used to fuel automobiles. It can be diluted and called vodka or diluted and flavored with juniper berries and called gin.

Mass-produced brandies are also aged in oak casks and pick up some flavors from them. Like its fine counterpart, the brandies are blended, diluted to around 40% alcohol, and bottled.

Quality Control

Quality control for fine brandies is a meticulous process that involves experienced tasters with years of expertise. Consider this scenario: a significant cognac house might have a vast storage of 10,000 brandy barrels in its cellars, each requiring an annual assessment. This implies that a large portion of the "tasting" actually entails smelling, as tasting several hundred barrels of brandy in a single day could lead to alcohol poisoning. These experts typically evaluate each barrel at least once a year to monitor its aging progress and appraise its suitability for blending. Any brandies that develop unwanted flavors during distillation are discarded.

In contrast, mass-produced brandies, designed to be devoid of odor and flavor, mainly require quality control checks to verify their alcohol content. The density difference between alcohol and water allows for this assessment using a device called a hydrometer. A hydrometer is a glass float equipped with a rod extending from its top. The rod is calibrated so that a line on it aligns precisely with the liquid's surface when the hydrometer floats in water. Because alcohol is less dense than water, the hydrometer will sink more deeply in alcohol than it does in water. By calibrating the rod scale using various known alcohol content blends, the percentage of alcohol in a water-alcohol mixture can be determined.

Byproducts and Waste

Regarding byproducts and waste, the leftovers from brandy production encompass solids from the wine-making process and the liquids remaining from the still. The solid remnants can be repurposed for animal feed or used in composting. Liquid waste is often left to evaporate in shallow ponds, permitting any residual alcohol to disperse into the atmosphere. Nevertheless, this method is not a significant source of pollution, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Future

Looking ahead, it's likely that the majority of brandies will continue to be produced using column stills. However, there is a growing global interest in luxury items, extending beyond fine brandies to include products like Calvados (high-quality apple brandy) and slivovitz (premium plum brandy), attracting the attention of collectors and everyday consumers alike.

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