Today, the distillation process still involves fermented pomace, just on a larger scale. The Romans used it to make plonk, while Benedictine Monks treasured it for its medicinal properties as a digestif. The Dutch were responsible for sharing Cognac with the rest of the world. With that said, let's take a look at what the full scope of brandy has to offer and what makes each type so special.Īccording to Upscale Living Magazine, like calvados in Normandy, grappa has an official product designation (PDO) stating true grappa can only be made in Italy. Fortunately, that just means there's a relatively wide selection of brandy to explore.Īccording to The Ottawa Citizen, once Dutch traders caught on, they began sharing the sweet libation they called brandewijn, or "burned wine," throughout northern Europe - named so after the process of distillation where wine was heated over a fire to remove impurities before being aged in stainless steel vats or oak. Variations may incorporate a fruit mash or pomace, which The Chicago Tribune describes as being the residual mash left over following the pressing of fruit into "young, rough, unclarified wine." The pomace is left to ferment for traditionally dictated periods of time. (Apple liqueurs and schnapps, like the ones used for appletinis, are a different category - sugar is usually added to them, often along with artificial colors and flavors.Although brandy's humble origins began with distilled wine made from grapes, it can be made from several different fruits relative to the regions in which it's produced. He prefers white oak from Minnesota other producers are using charred bourbon barrels from Tennessee, discarded sherry casks from Spain and even peaty Scottish whisky casks, rotating the spirit among them to produce the notes of aged leather and young green apple, caramel and vanilla that make apple brandy naturally fragrant, sweet and delicious. Harris, 50, takes over the barrel-aging process that gives Quarter Branch its amber color and deep flavor, a method based on traditional Calvados, the apple brandy unique to the Normandy region of northwest France. “You want a lot of flavor for the flesh that’s there,” she said.Īfter distillation, Mr. The kind of big, sweet apples that have been bred for eating, like Red and Golden Delicious, are far too sugary and watery. This year’s batch is made from Winesap, Pippin, Arkansas Black and other heritage apple breeds that are good for brandy, she said, because they have almost no sweetness, but share a strong, concentrated apple taste that carries all the way through distillation. That clear spirit is applejack - not as strong as modern distilled spirits like vodka, but strong enough to last the winter. Each time the ice is skimmed off, the concentration of alcohol grows, until what is left in the barrel reaches about 40 proof. With each freeze, the water in the cider crystallizes into slushy ice. The original applejack, which many historians believe was invented by American colonists, was produced by a low-tech method called “jacking.” Jacked spirits are distilled not by the usual method of boiling, but by freezing, and any household with a supply of hard cider and cold weather could make applejack. Local Wilkes County bootleggers like Junior Johnson, the Thomas brothers and the Flock family famously became the first generation of NASCAR drivers in the 1940s and ’50s, and many of the sport’s first speedways, along with its Hall of Fame, are within 100 miles of here. Up to and through the Prohibition era, there were countless producers making and (illegally) selling applejack in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where roads were limited and trees provided thick cover from government agents. In this cool, fertile Appalachian region, as in most of the Northeast, apples were then far more plentiful than the grains needed to make whiskey.
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