What Is the Difference Between Cognac & Brandy?

Cognac is a type of brandy that is produced in the Cognac region of France. The name is also used to describe any very fine quality brandy. Small portions of brandy are often served as after-dinner drinks in large glasses called snifters. After enjoying the strong smell, tiny sips allow the drink to be savored for a long time.

Identification

Brandy is an alcoholic drink that is made by distilling wine or another fermented fruit juice. The word, brandy, comes from a Germanic root that means to burn or distill. Brandy contains 36-60 percent alcohol.

Types

There are three main types of brandy. Grape brandies, such as cognac, for example, begin as wine. Fruit brandies start with fermented juice from other types of fruit. For example, calvados is fermented apple brandy; kirschwasser is fermented cherry brandy, and German schnapps is a type of fruit brandy which can be made from various other fermented fruit juices. The third type of brandy is pomace brandy. This is made by fermenting and then distilling the discarded skins, seeds, and stems of grapes that have been used to make wine.

Geography

Cognac is a region in France located about 465 kilometers southwest of Paris and about 120 kilometers north of Bordeaux. The area contains some 15,000 vineyards that specialize in growing white grapes. These ripen slowly and produce an acidic wine with a fairly low alcohol content. These grapes also provide the raw ingredients for the finest kind of brandy, cognac.

Features

Cognac starts with this region's white wine. When the sugars in the white grapes ferment, alcohol results. This is the wine. Next, the wine is distilled. First it is heated in a closed copper cauldron over an open flame. The vapors from the evaporating alcohol rise to the top of the cauldron where they enter a pipe. They condense back into liquid form in the pipe and go through a second distillation process. Finally, the cognac is piped into oak barrels and then left to age for about ten years. During the aging process it loses some of its volume. At the same time some of the alcoholic content is reduced. The liquid yellows as it ages, too. After about ten years, the finished cognac is placed into glass bottles, when the aging process stops.

Expert Insight

The man who innovated the process of double distillation to make cognac is said to have been Jacques de la Croix-Maron, who lived in the Cognac region of France. His discovery has been used to make this after-dinner liqueur since the 1500s.

Resources

• All About Cognac: the Drink and the Place