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BRANDY , an alcoholic, potable spirit, obtained by the See also:distillation of See also:grape See also:wine. The frequently occurring statement that the word " brandy " is derived from the High See also:German Branntwein is incorrect, inasmuch as the See also:English word (as Fairley has pointed out) is quite as old as any of its See also:continental equivalents. It is simply an See also:abbreviation of the Old English brandewine, See also:brand-wine or brandy wine, the word " brand " being See also:common to all the See also:Teutonic See also:languages of See also:northern See also:Europe, meaning a thing burning or that has been burnt. See also:John See also:Fletcher's See also:Beggar's See also:Bush (1622) contains the passage, " Buy brand wine "; and from the Roxburgh See also:Ballads (1650) we have " It is more See also:fine than brandewine." The word " brandy " came into See also:familiar use about the See also:middle of the 17th See also:century, but the expression " See also:brandywine " was retained in legal documents until 1702 (Fairley). Thus in 1697 (View Penal See also:Laws, 173) there occurs the See also:sentence, " No aqua vitae or brandywine shall be imported into See also:England." The See also:British See also:Pharmacopoeia formerly defined See also:French brandy, which was the only variety mentioned (officially spiritus vini gallici), as " Spirit distilled from French wine; it has a characteristic flavour, and a See also:light See also:sherry See also:colour derived from the cask in which it has been kept." In the latest edition the Latin See also:title spiritus vini gallici is retained, but the word French is dropped from the See also:text, which now reads as follows: " A spirituous liquid distilled from wine and matured by See also:age, and containing not less than 361% by See also:weight or 431% by See also:volume - of See also:ethyl hydroxide." The See also:United States Pharmacopoeia (1905), retains the Latin expression spiritus vini gallici (English title Brandy), defined as " an alcoholic liquid obtained by the distillation of the fermented, unmodified juice of fresh grapes."
Very little of the brandy of See also:commerce corresponds exactly to the former See also:definition of the British Pharmacopoeia as regards colouring See also:matter, inasmuch as See also:trade requirements necessitate the addition of a small quantity of caramel (burnt See also:sugar) colouring to the spirit in the See also:majority of cases. The See also:object of this is, as a See also:rule, not that of deceiving the consumer as to the apparent age of the brandy, but that of keeping a See also:standard See also:article of commerce at a standard level of colour. It is practically impossible to do this without having recourse to caramel colouring, as, practically speaking, the contents of any cask will always differ slightly, and often very appreciably, in colour intensity from the contents of another cask, even though the age and quality of the See also:spirits are identical.
The finest brandies are produced in a See also:district covering an See also:area of rather less than three million acres, situated in the departments of See also:Charente and Charente Inferieure, of which the centre is the See also:town of See also:Cognac. It is generally held that only brandies produced within this district have a right to the name " cognac." The Cognac district is separated into district zones of See also:production, according to the quality of the spirit which each yields. In the centre of the district, on the See also:left See also:bank of the Charente, is the Grande See also:Champagne, and radiating beyond it are (in See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
order of merit of the spirit produced) the Petite Champagne, the Borderies (or Premiers Bois), the Fins Bois, the Bons Bois, the Bois Ordinaires, and finally the Bois See also:commons dits d terroir. Many hold that the brandy produced in the two latter districts is not entitled to the name of " cognac, " but this is a matter of controversy, as
is also the question as to whether another district called the Grande Fine Champagne, namely, that in the immediate neighbourhood of the little See also:village of Juillac-le-Coq, should be added to the See also:list. The pre-eminent quality of the Cognac brandies is largely due to the See also:character of the See also:soil, the See also:climate, and the scientific and systematic cultivation of the vines.
For a period—from the
which increases with age, furfural, which decreases, and small quantities of other matters of which we have as yet little knowledge.
The table gives analyses, by the See also:present author (excepting No . 3, which is by F. Lusson), of undoubtedly genuine commercial cognac brandies of various ages.
End of Article: BRANDY
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