# Brandy or Cognac



## Snow Hill Pond (Aug 10, 2011)

Does anyone drink brandy or cognac? What brand of either would you recommend for the home bar during the winter months?


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## blairrob (Oct 30, 2010)

Snow Hill Pond said:


> Does anyone drink brandy or cognac? What brand of either would you recommend for the home bar during the winter months?


Chateau de Montifaud is an Armagnac from a smaller producer that I enjoy, and their XO is pretty reasonably priced. I was led to this stuff by an agent who is a well respected 'purist' in the trade with a great nose. I highly recommend it.


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## 12345Michael54321 (Mar 6, 2008)

I prefer Armagnac, as well.

For under $50/bottle, Marie Duffau Hors d'Age Bas Armagnac is nice.

I had some Larressingle XO Armagnac, at a friend's house a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty good. I didn't ask what it cost, but I suspect it was maybe $100/bottle.

If you're going to be spending much more than that per bottle, you shouldn't be asking for recommendations here on AAAC. You should go to a cognac or armagnac tasting, and try a few for yourself, and decide which you prefer. (Even if you're going to spend less than that, there's no substitute for tasting a few choices yourself, and deciding which you prefer.)


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## MaxBuck (Apr 4, 2013)

It's always interested me that I, a wine lover, have never enjoyed cognac. Scotch, absolutely, and gin too, but not cognac. (And to be honest, I like very few rums, vodkas or tequilas, and no bourbons or ryes.)


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## Chouan (Nov 11, 2009)

As a general rule I prefer Armagnac to Cognac, but in recent months have tried some excellent, yet inexpensive Spanish brandies. Carlos Premiero by Osborne, from Jeres is very good, very smooth with a wonderful nose https://www.amazon.co.uk/Carlos-Gran-Reserva-Brandy-70cl/dp/B004EAIWRU . So is Torres 10, as a very inexpensive yet pleasant "everyday" brandy, from Catalunya, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Torres-Gra...&qid=1415093626&sr=1-1&keywords=torres+brandy and their 20 is really nice https://www.amazon.co.uk/Torres-CL-...&qid=1415093626&sr=1-3&keywords=torres+brandy I used to drink Whiskey, Irish for preference, although Scotch Malts in my younger years. Now I can't abide the smell. Curious, no?


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## Snow Hill Pond (Aug 10, 2011)

MaxBuck said:


> It's always interested me that I, a wine lover, have never enjoyed cognac.


I too am a wine lover, but unlike you, I don't know if I'll enjoy brandy or not. Reading a little on the subject, I said to myself that I must be missing something here. So I'm going to give it a go.

To be honest, I've never heard of Armagnac that Chouan, Blairrob, and 12345M have recommended. Thank you for the recommendations. I'm assuming that Armagnac must be a specific brandy from a specific region of France. Looks like this whole topic is deeper than I imagined. It'll be fun exploring all the different types of brandy out there.


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## colorvision (Aug 7, 2014)

Yes, the Armagnac region is a little south of the Cognac region, and its brandies are appreciated by connoisseurs but do not have the same level recognition and reputation as Cognacs. For the wine lovers, a happy intermediate might be Calvados, a Norman apple brandy, which I like very much.


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

I'm a cognac drinker myself, mostly because I just happened to drink it *first* many years ago, so it sort of "imprinted" on me. I do think the best plan is to go to a decent bar and try a few nice ones (not necessarily all at once).

I always have a bottle of Courvoisier VSOP on hand as a "daily" cognac, which has (in my view) one of the better quality/price ratios at around US$50-60 for a 700ml bottle. Obviously, you can spend a lot more; I usually get the good stuff as gifts from cardiac surgeons in Japan (this somehow has become a thing!)

(I'm curious to try some of the aforementioned armagnacs now, too).

I do think it's worth getting proper cognac glasses, as well (I think mine are from Riedell); I mean, it's sort of a civilized act, having a cognac, so you may as well do it right.

Brandy, to me, is more of a cooking ingredient (in brandy-soaked cakes and such); that, and a loose woman's name.

DH


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## colorvision (Aug 7, 2014)

I would expect a woman named Cognac to be looser, on average, than a woman named Brandy.


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

colorvision said:


> I would expect a woman named Cognac to be looser, on average, than a woman named Brandy.


No, no - it would be brand specific.

A woman named Hennessy? or Courvoisier? Look for the nearest brass pole.

"Cognac" is a bit too categorical for names!

DH


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## 12345Michael54321 (Mar 6, 2008)

Dhaller said:


> A woman named Hennessy? or Courvoisier? Look for the nearest brass pole.


No, the woman seeking a meaningful relationship with the brass pole spells it "Hennessi." Just ask her friends, Tawni, Brandi, and Tanquer-A.

The real wild one of the bunch is Syndi.

BTW, I noticed CNN was running this 1-hr. program on Strippers Who Travel, hosted by Lisa Ling, this past weekend. It seems to have aired a fair number of times, too. Does this indicate it's some sort of sweeps week for cable news networks? Or maybe it's just that nothing particularly newsworthy happened in the US last week, so they slotted in the stripper thing to flesh out their broadcast schedule.


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## Bjorn (May 2, 2010)

Flesh out? Very droll. I prefer cognac over Armagnac and calvados (which I think is a different animal altogether, much like grappa. Cognac needs to be just a little bit expensive to stop tasting like gasoline though.


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## Chouan (Nov 11, 2009)

As Bjorn says, Calvados is an entirely different thing. Marc de Bourgogne is a French form of grappa, which can also be quite pleasant.


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## colorvision (Aug 7, 2014)

To be more explicit, calvados is a type of brandy that I would recommend for the home bar during the winter months. It's made from apples, while Cognac, Armagnac and grappa are made from grapes. To me, a higher quality grappa tastes more like a lower quality Cognac than a calvados.


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## Snow Hill Pond (Aug 10, 2011)

Dhaller said:


> I do think it's worth getting proper cognac glasses, as well (I think mine are from Riedell); I mean, it's sort of a civilized act, having a cognac, so you may as well do it right.
> 
> DH


Good call. Although my original intent for this thread was to pick a brandy to enjoy after shoveling the driveway of snow, a snifter (or similar) would be a nice touch.


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## Chouan (Nov 11, 2009)

colorvision said:


> To be more explicit, calvados is a type of brandy that I would recommend for the home bar during the winter months. It's made from apples, while Cognac, Armagnac and grappa are made from grapes. To me, a higher quality grappa tastes more like a lower quality Cognac than a calvados.


Grappa, like Marc, is made from the grape skins left over from wine pressing, so aren't brandies, and aren't made of grapes, as such.


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## colorvision (Aug 7, 2014)

So grappa is made from the skins, stems and seeds of grapes while Cognac is made from the juice of grapes. It's just semantics, but my interpretation is that both are made from grapes. I never said that grappa is a brandy, but Wikipedia and its references do claim that grappa is brandy.


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## Hitch (Apr 25, 2012)

If you like pears;


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## blairrob (Oct 30, 2010)

I think to be more specific one would say that the grappa base is made from grapes that have had as much of the juice pressed out of them as possible, and when fermented and then distilled create a drink from what would have been pure waste into something to keep the farmhands happy. Grappa comes from de-juiced grapes, wine and brandies from the full, juicy grape. Since technically a brandy is an alcoholic drink made from the distillation of a grape, grappa fits the definition. If the definition of brandy was an alcoholic drink made from the distillation of grape _juice_ grappa would not fit that definition, though in general usage that is common, if semantically incorrect.

In days of yore no self respecting winemaker or citizen would be caught dead drinking grappa or marc themselves; it was simply the cheapest way to let the workers get drunk, a perk for working in the fields. And of course these days no self respecting winemaker would be caught dead drinking grappa or marc themselves either (kidding [sort of])!


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## Bjorn (May 2, 2010)

I had some good grappa in a Stockholm restaurant ones, also called Grappa. It was not the cheap variety. But drinking good cognac is a whole other thing. Much like drinking really good whisky.


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## Chouan (Nov 11, 2009)

Brandy is derived from the Dutch, brandewijn, meaning burnt wine. It was an ingenious plan, supposedly, if more than a myth, to reduce the volume of wine by distilling it, to save transport costs, then adding water on delivery to regain the volume. It didn't work. However, the real point is that it is made from distilled wine rather than distilled grape juice. Marc and grappa is made from a distilled fermentation of the grape pulp, mostly skins, left behind after pressing. As has been said, wine makers used it as a supplement to vineyard workers wages.


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## FiscalDean (Dec 10, 2011)

In Wisconsin, brandy is the drink of choice. Most natives use it in place of just about any type of whisky, i.e. a brandy Manhattan or brandy old fashioned. 

As an after dinner drink, I prefer Remy Martin VSOP cognac. 

I do have a bottle of pear brandy complete with the pear in the bottle but I'm trying to make it last as I don't know what to do with the pear after the brandy is gone.

I also enjoy a little Slivovitz once in awhile (plum brandy).


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## 12345Michael54321 (Mar 6, 2008)

FiscalDean said:


> I do have a bottle of pear brandy complete with the pear in the bottle but I'm trying to make it last as I don't know what to do with the pear after the brandy is gone.


You can plant it in your back yard and grow a brandy tree.

It's a fact. I saw it on the Internet.


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## FiscalDean (Dec 10, 2011)

I'm not sure I believe everything on the internet


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## Snow Hill Pond (Aug 10, 2011)

I ended up buying a bottle of St Remy VSOP to establish a baseline. It's a pretty gnarly baseline, I have to admit.

I've bottles of Le Reviseur VSOP and Marie Duffau Bas Armagnac Napoleon waiting in the wings. I bought them purely on the in-store Wine Spectator mini-review/rating. So I've no idea what to expect, but I'm looking forward to the experience.


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## AJE (Dec 13, 2014)

Torres 10, Torres 20 or Gran Duque D'Alba are good choices.


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## Chouan (Nov 11, 2009)

AJE said:


> Torres 10, Torres 20 or Gran Duque D'Alba are good choices.


They are indeed. I like Carlos I as well.


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## orange fury (Dec 8, 2013)

I've tried various brandys and cognacs, but they're just too sweet for me (Im in love with Islay scotches though, so that may have something to do with it). My best friend loves cognac and always has a decanter of Remy Martin VSOP laying around, but it's just really not my preference.


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## Adventure Wolf (Feb 26, 2014)

Brandy, I never really liked Cognac.


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

I had the good fortune of receiving a bottle of Remy Martin XO Excellence a year ago and am still savoring it. I also enjoy Courvoisier VSOP, but haven't indulged in awhile. I think of cognac as a special treat. Of course, it isn't worth drinking at all unless poured into a proper snifter, then cradled over a second snifter filled with hot water for a few minutes. I'd just as soon drink cold cognac as warm beer.


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## FiscalDean (Dec 10, 2011)

32rollandrock said:


> I had the good fortune of receiving a bottle of Remy Martin XO Excellence a year ago and am still savoring it. I also enjoy Courvoisier VSOP, but haven't indulged in awhile. I think of cognac as a special treat. Of course, it isn't worth drinking at all unless poured into a proper snifter, then cradled over a second snifter filled with hot water for a few minutes. I'd just as soon drink cold cognac as warm beer.


My wife picked up a bottle of Remy Martin XO at the duty free store on a trip to Great Britain. I have to agree it is truly something to savor and it is essential to use a proper snifter.


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