Brandy

Brandy is an alcoholic beverage produced by the distillation of wine with an alcohol content of between 35 – 60% by volume. It is mostly served as an after-dinner drink, but also popular in bars and nightclubs in many countries. It can also be produced by fruits other than grapes but is sold under different names, such as eaux-de-vie in France and schnapps in Germany. There are varying requirements held by countries in order to classify a drink as a brandy, but the most recognisable characteristic is that the distilled fruit alcohol is aged in oak containers for at least one year. The making of brandy is an effective way to salvage defective wines and production surpluses, though many good quality brandies are made from wines specially grown.

Brandies are produced by distillation of wine in a piece of machinery called a rectifier. The wine is distilled in the distillation column where the “phlegm” or main distillation product is isolated. This highly concentrated alcohol product is then extracted while hot and further purified in the next column known as the epuration column by further removal of head foreshots and unwanted compounds, before finally reaching column C – the rectification column. The rectification column is where the potable pasteurized alcohol is drawn off. Some of the separation products during distillation can be recycled into the process, but methanol, due to its toxicity in humans is carefully removed. A disadvantage of this process is that volatile compounds of organoleptic interest are often eliminated, though some rectifiers have an additional column that separates these volatile substances from the methanol and allows them to be reintroduced into the distillates (Lea, AGH & Piggott, JR 2003).

(Lea, AGH & Piggott, JR 2003)

The alcohol product is then aged in an oak container for at least one year. This aging