Brandy
Brandy is the alcoholic or spirituous portion of wine, separated from the aqueous part, the colouring matter, etc., by distillation. The word is of German origin, and in its German form, brantuein, signifies burnt wine, or wine that has undergone the action of fire; brandies, so called, however, have been made from potatoes, carrots, beetroot, pears, and other vegetable substances; but they are all inferior to true brandy. Brandy is prepared in most wine countries, but that of France is the most esteemed. It is procured not only by distilling the wine itself, but also by fermenting and distilling the marc, or residue of the pressings of the grape. It is procured indifferently from red or white wine, and different wines yield very different proportions of it, the strongest, of course, giving the largest quantity. Brandy obtained from marc has a more acrid taste than that from wine. The celebrated brandy of Cognac, a town in the department of Charente, and that brought from Andraye, seem to owe their excellence from being made from white wine. Like other spirit, brandy is colourless when recently distilled; by mere keeping, however, owing, probably, to some change in the soluble matter contained in it, it acquires a slight colour, which is much increased by keeping in casks, and is made of the required intensity by the addition of burnt sugar or other colouring matter. What is called British brandy is not, in fact, brandy, which is the name, as we have said, of a spirit distilled from wine; but is a spirit made chiefly from malt spirit, with the addition of mineral acids and various flavouring ingredients, the exact composition being kept secret. It is distilled somewhat extensively in this country; real brandy scarcely at all. The brandies imported into England are chiefly from Bordeaux, Rochelle, and Cognac.
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The Book of Household Management (1861).
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