Top Things to Know about
Brandy & Cognac

All Cognac Is Brandy—but Not All Brandy Is Cognac

This is the big one. If you remember nothing else, remember this.

Fermented fruit from anywhere = wine. Distilled wine = brandy.

Brandy made with Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanche and Colombard grapes grown in the Cognac region of France = Cognac.

Think of Cognac as brandy with a very particular French address and a lot more rules.

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2. Brandy Can Come From Many Fruits

The word brandy comes from the Dutch brandewijn, meaning “burnt wine.”

Although most traditional brandy is grape-based, fruit brandies can be made from apples, pears, cherries, plums, raspberries, and other fruits. That’s why the brandy family reunion is so large.

3. Cognac Has a Very Specific Zip Code

Cognac can only come from the legally defined Cognac region of France and must follow strict production rules. The principal grape is Ugni Blanc, with other permitted varieties including Folle Blanche and Colombard. So no, you can't make Cognac in California any more than you can make Kentucky bourbon in Paris and expect nobody to notice.

4. Cognac Gets Distilled Twice

Traditional Cognac is double-distilled in copper pot stills and then aged in French oak.

The oak traditionally comes primarily from the Limousin and Tronçais forests, and the long aging process adds color, aroma, and flavor.

Basically, Cognac spends years sitting around in expensive French wood and somehow becomes more valuable. Nice work if you can get it.

5. The Angels Are Drinking Too

As Cognac ages in underground barrels, some alcohol and water naturally evaporate. This is romantically known as the Angel's Share. Cognac producers lose a significant amount of spirit during decades of aging—which apparently means heaven has one heck of a liquor cabinet.

6. Know the Big Cognac Names

Four of the best-known Cognac houses are:

Courvoisier (core-VAH-see-ay)
Hennessy (HEN-uh-see)
Martell (mar-TELL)
Rémy Martin (ray-MEE mar-TAN)

Courvoisier has also been famously associated with Napoleon Bonaparte, an association the brand has leaned into for generations.

7. Those Letters on the Bottle Mean Something

Cognac's age designation is based on the youngest eau-de-vie in the blend.

VS — Very Special: aged at least 2 years
VSOP — Very Superior Old Pale: aged at least 4 years
XO — Extra Old: aged at least 10 years

You'll also encounter classifications such as Napoléon and Hors d'Âge.

Maurice Hennessy introduced the famous star classification system in the 19th century. Apparently, even Cognac had customer reviews before the Internet.

THE KING OF COGNACS

Louis XIII

Rémy Martin's Louis XIII is one of the world's most prestigious Cognacs. It is made exclusively with eaux-de-vie from Grande Champagne, Cognac's premier cru, including spirits aged for many decades. And then there's the bottle. Louis XIII is famously presented in an ornate Baccarat crystal decanter, and depending on the edition and market, a bottle can cost several thousand dollars or considerably more.

Order a glass in a high-end bar and don't be surprised by a three-digit—or even four-digit—price. This is not the Cognac you accidentally mix with Coke.

COGNAC'S OLDER COUSIN: ARMAGNAC

Armagnac (ar-man-YAK) is another prestigious French grape brandy, produced in the Armagnac region of Gascony. It dates back to at least the early 1300s, making it France's oldest documented grape brandy—older than Cognac.

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Unlike Cognac, which is generally distilled twice, traditional Armagnac is commonly distilled once in a continuous Armagnac still, helping give it its distinctive character.

If Cognac is the polished gentleman in a tailored suit, Armagnac is his slightly older country cousin who owns a vineyard and doesn't care what you're wearing.

OTHER BRANDIES TO KNOW

Pisco (PEE-skoh) — A South American grape spirit strongly associated with Peru and Chile.

Calvados (KAL-vah-dohs) — French apple brandy from Normandy.

Applejack — An American apple spirit with a long history.

Framboise (frahm-BWAHZ) — Raspberry eau-de-vie.

Kirsch (KEERSH) — Cherry eau-de-vie traditionally associated with Central Europe.

Poire (PWAHR) — Pear eau-de-vie.

Slivovitz (SLIHV-uh-vits) — Plum brandy traditionally produced throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

Try saying all of those correctly after three Sidecars.

DON'T FORGET POMACE BRANDY

After wine is made, the leftover grape skins, seeds, pulp, and sometimes stems are called pomace. Why throw that away when you can distill it?

Two famous examples are:

Grappa — Italy
Marc — France

It's basically the wine world's version of leftovers—and some very good leftovers at that.

GRAND MARNIER

Grand Marnier is a famous orange liqueur traditionally made with Cognac and bitter orange essence. The best-known expression, Cordon Rouge, was created by Louis-Alexandre Marnier Lapostolle in 1880. In other words, Cognac put on an orange hat and went to a cocktail party.

THE BRANDY SNIFTER

The traditional brandy glass is the snifter—a short-stemmed glass with a large rounded bowl and narrow opening designed to concentrate aromas. A smaller tulip-shaped glass is also favored for serious tasting because it concentrates aromas without encouraging you to heat the spirit excessively. And yes, brandy snifters can get comically large. At some point you're no longer holding a glass; you're holding a fishbowl.

TO WARM OR NOT TO WARM?

Traditionally, brandy and Cognac were often served warmed because gentle warmth releases aromas. Today, good Cognac is generally served around room temperature rather than deliberately heated.

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➜ Back in the 1980s, I worked at a swanky place where we actually had little metal Cognac warmers with tealight candles underneath them. Very elegant—and apparently nobody from the fire department had seen them yet. Even into the 2000s, I occasionally had older guests request warmed Cognac. I would gently warm the snifter, then present it over an Old Fashioned glass partially filled with hot water, set on a cocktail-napkin-lined saucer, with ice water on the side. It looked elegant, made the guest happy, and was much classier than saying, “Hang on while I microwave your Rémy.”

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BRANDY COCKTAILS TO KNOW

Classic cocktails featuring brandy or Cognac include:

Sidecar • Brandy Alexander • Stinger • Between the Sheets

You'll also find brandy used in historic punches, Sazerac variations, flips, sours, and other classics.

The Sidecar is probably the essential Cognac cocktail every bartender should know.

BARTENDER GOOD TO KNOW

No universal trick involving laying a snifter on its side and filling it to the rim determines a proper serving. Snifters come in wildly different sizes, so that old bar trick can turn a standard pour into a mistake. Congratulations, you just gave away half the bottle. Use the establishment's measured pour—typically 1½ or 2 ounces—and price accordingly. Because when you're pouring Louis XIII, “close enough” is not an acceptable unit of measurement.