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Spanish brandy is mostly based on the Airén grape; a variety that can tolerate heat and drought. It is mostly grown for brandy production in La Mancha and Valdapeñas in central Spain. Palomino, a grape variety used in sherry production, is also used for producing Spanish brandy. In Penedès brandy producers use Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Parellada, the same grape varieties used to produce Spanish Cava. They also use Ugni blanc, the same grape variety used in Cognac. This family-owned spirits and liqueur brand is produced in Angers, France. Founded in 1885 by Emilie Giffard, it makes countless products like Coconut Liqueur, Crème de menthe, Marschino Liqueur, and others. But it also makes a few fruit brandies. These include apricot, cherry, and others. While the brand doesn’t make cognac, you’d be hard-pressed to find a brand that makes more exciting, flavourful expressions than Giffard. An aromatic brandy that has been aged for 10 to 12 years in butts that previously held Oloroso sherry. It offers notes of prunes, raisins and dates, along with hints of roasted nuts and old leather. The brandy is smooth, with a pronounced palate weight, with flavors of dried fruit, caramel and vanilla. There is also an 18 YO XO expression that is finished in sweet PX sherry cask and a 20 YO Oro expression matured in dry, Palo Cortado sherry casks.
Torres Brandy. Welcome to the world of brandy. Torres Brandy. Welcome to the world of brandy.
Cardinal Mendoza is aged for an average of 15 years in a combination of Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherry casks. The brandy is named for Cardinal Don Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza. The cardinal was an advisor to Ferdinand II and Isabel I, and was instrumental in persuading the Spanish monarchs to support Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the new world. Chosen for several years as the Best Brandy in the World at contests like the International Wine &Spirit Competition. Keep up with the latest trends, best stories, and crucial updates from Man of Many direct to your inbox. Lepanto is the only brandy distilled in the city of Jerez from locally grown Palomino grapes, the same variety used to produce sherry. The brandy is double distilled in Charentais pot stills, originally from Cognac, and is aged in solera for an average of 12 years. The first nine years in barrels that previously contained Tío Pepe and a further three years in casks that previously held 30 YO sweetOlorosoMatusalem sherry. Brandy bodegas in Jerez are required to utilize a solera system of fractional blending. The solera consists of a series of barrels called criaderas (nurseries in Spanish). Each criadera is numbered. It can consist of one to hundreds of barrels. All the barrels in a criadera hold brandy of the same average age. A bodega may have anywhere from three to as many as 45 different criaderas. The oldest criadera is called the solera. These are the barrels from which the brandy destined for bottling is extracted.Another one of the most well-known cognac houses, Martell is also the oldest. Founded in 1715 by Jean Martell who was originally from the island of Jersey. While the brand makes myriad well-known, award-winning cognacs like the highly acclaimed Martell Cordon Bleu, we prefer the unique, boundary-pushing Martell Blue Swift. Aged for a minimum of four years in French oak casks before finishing in Ex-bourbon barrels it’s known for its flavours of dried fruits, vanilla, and wintry spices. Each extraction from the solera is called a saca. Up to a quarter of a barrel’s contents can be extracted at any one time. The brandy removed is replaced with brandy from the next oldest criadera until all of the criaderas have been filled. The youngest criadera is topped up with new spirit. Extractions can take place as often as every four months or as infrequently as once a year, or even once every two years.
20 Best Brandy Brands to Sip Right Now | Man of Many 20 Best Brandy Brands to Sip Right Now | Man of Many
While brandy can be made anywhere in the world (and is), it’s difficult to dispute the level of cognac made in France. There’s a reason even novice drinkers know the names Martell, Hennessy, Courvoisier, and Remy Martin. If you only try one type of brandy in the world, make it cognac. You won’t be disappointed. This is similar to the Scotch whisky industry’s preoccupation a generation ago with kilts and bagpipes in marketing Scotch whisky. Spain’s brandy producers need to market their product to appeal to a more cosmopolitan buyer, while still preserving its essential Spanish character. Normally drink VSOP brandy but got this as a gift. It’s brandy, right, so should be good. It has a high note aroma that reminds me of something medicinal. This very limited, small-batch cognac brand is well-known for its artisanal expressions. Using traditional ingredients and techniques, this small brand was named for a familial French general and war hero. Philbert Distiller Reserve Grande Champagne Cognac, with its hints of coffee, almonds, vanilla, caramel, and dried fruits, is one of its most popular expressions.This is different practice than say the Scotch whisky industry where the stated age on a bottling is the youngest component of the blend. Likewise, with Cognac, the different classifications are based on the youngest component of the blend, even though those blends could incorporate spirits that are far older. Spanish brandy sales don’t have much traction outside of Spain and a handful of export markets in former Spanish possessions. In the US, it has a small but dedicated following. That’s unfortunate, because it really is an excellent product. To help you in this endeavour, we decided to list our favourite brandy brands. From brandy to cognac, Armagnac, and even apple brandy, you’ll find everything you need to start your brandy journey below. Our list of the best Brand goes like this.
Torres 20 Brandy Torres 20 Brandy
WARNING: Drinking distilled spirits, beer, coolers, wine and other alcoholic beverages may increase cancer risk, and, during pregnancy, can cause birth defects. On the nose, there is an intense sherry cask aroma of raisin, prune and sweet almond. The palate features a pronounced weight with dried fruit, along with some coffee notes, orange zest and cinnamon. The finish, which is very rich and satiny smooth, emphasizes sweet almond notes, with a hint of bitterness on the end. Shop at Camus Shop at Dan Murphy’s Shop at The Whisky Exchange How Man of Many Chose the Best BrandyTo many, the best brandy feels like a spirit of a bygone era. Something your grandparents drank or at most something that was prescribed by a doctor to fight a cold decades ago. It feels like there’s no place for brandy in the contemporary spirits world, but the spirits experts at Man of Many are here to show you why that’s not the case. In Penedès the two major producers, Torres and Mascaró, do a double distillation in alembic pot stills and then mature their brandy in a combination of American and French Limousine oak barrels. Torres utilizes a solera system, Mascaró does not. The resulting style is lighter than Brandy de Jerez, but deeper colored and flavored than Cognac. I like my brandy with a touch of coke… I couldn’t finish it. It’s got a bitter /sharp taste to it and reminds of something from years ago, just can’t remember! While the spirit produced from distillation is simply called eau de vie (which translates from French to English as “water of life”), it’s clear and only has the simple flavours imparted by the distillation process. To give it the amber, copper, caramel, or dark brown colours many drinkers associate with cognac and other brandies, it needs to be matured in wooden barrels similar to whisk(e)y.
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