Hey guys, I'm looking to get into Brandy a little bit to go with my cigars and I was just wondering what I should try.
recommend me some Brandy to try?
- Thread starter Wolfdaddy
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Joined Feb 2004
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159 Knobvue Drive Freedom Pa 15042
The best brandy I have ever tasted was some of the stuff I made for the cigar crawl in 2003, or was it 2002 , what ever, there is no more we drank every last drop of it then, Untill you develop a taste for brany stick with the stuff that will not break the bank, Paul Masson grande amber is under 15 bucks a bottle , 80 proof & you can get it almost anyplace , the same for E&J VSOP a few bucks less than the PM Amber , that should get you started, then you can move up to the Hennessey X O for just over a ben franklin note & when you hit the lottery try a bottle of Remy Martin
Louis XIII only $1229.99 here in Penna. hahaha Enjoy, Vince
Louis XIII only $1229.99 here in Penna. hahaha Enjoy, Vince
I like Courvosier. The VSOP is fairly good, and reasonably priced. If you dont mind spending more, the XO is the best. I have tried the Hennesy and Remy of equivalent grades, but I prefer Courvosier. I have a bottle of XO now...
No offense Mark but you need to expand your horizons. You can get better cognac for the same money and far better cognac if you're willing to spend $60.00 on a bottle.MarkG said:
Back before the Fwench revealed what a bunch of collaborating quiche eating surrender monkeys they really were; I used to buy four or five bottles of Cognac a year. Among my favorites was Moyet. There were four grades IIRC, the bottom three grades were priced according to age. The top grade was aged and undiluted as it came out of the still right around 100 proof. There were a couple of other bottles I've had and forgotten the names or I'd have a closet full of them. Over the years I've finished off several bottles of Prunier and Pierre Ferrand and they're both very nice cognacs.
Now cognac isn't brandy. Cognac is distilled from grand champagne wine, Armengac is distilled from petite champagne wine. Brandy; as I understand, can be distilled from most any white wine. Among the best brandies I've had was Germain Robin, a California distiller who uses an alambac (double boiler) still similar to the stills used to make cognac.
Haha, when I tried Courvosier, Remy, and Hennesy, I thought I WAS expanding my horizons.
But those are the only three cognacs I saw at the places where I was trying them - I like to try a single serving or two before i buy a whole bottle, but even finding a bottle of one of the brands you mentioned would probably be a bit of a challenge locally; although now that I live in the Houston area, I could head over to the mega/super/everything-you-can-think-of liquor store downtown, and they might have a good selection of cognacs that I have never tried. When I got into trying decent liquors, I was working on an island, where the selection was more limited. And since then, I haven't thought about it much. But since you mention that there are greater things in the Cognac world than I have dreamt of, I will have to do some more tasting :wink: The way I would have said that is that all cognacs are brandies, but all brandies are NOT cognacs. But I haven't tried too many brandies, other than the aforementioned common cognacs, Bushnell's Calvados, and a few cheap brandies that are not worthy of mention.
Such stores should have Ferrand and or Prunier which are both good values. If you're really fortunate you will find a upscale wine and spirits store of the sort that sells Mouton Rothchilds by the case and stocks single malts whose names cannot be pronounced by mere mortals. Such stores are likely to have cognac from less well known labels.MarkG said:
You're right. All cognacs are brandys because they are distilled from white wine. Not all brandys are cognacs because to be cognac it has to be distilled in an alambic still from grand champagne wine that was grown in the Cognac region of France. I'll double check but I think wine from the Champagne region is also acceptable.