Cocktails with Brandy
Brandy is a distilled spirit made from wine or the fermented juice, mash, or wine of fruit, then typically aged in wood; unqualified, it means grape brandy.
ABV36–40%(class legal minimum; EU from 36%, US from 40%)
Taste profile
Aromatic and warming on the nose, carrying grape-wine character over oak; the palate is medium-bodied with a slight rounding sweetness and low bitterness.
How it's used
Used as a full-strength base measure in stirred and shaken builds, and in smaller pours as an aromatic modifier where its grape-oak character accents rather than dominates.
Substitutes for Brandy
As a base, only another grape/wine-derived oak-aged brandy holds up — a Cognac-style grape brandy matches the wine base, oak aroma, strength and colour, while a solera-aged Spanish brandy works but shifts softer, sweeter and more dried-fruit in character. A non-grape, non-aged spirit cannot reconstruct the defining wine-oak aroma.
Often confused with
Fruit brandy / eau-de-vie
Unqualified 'brandy' means grape brandy distilled from wine; fruit brandy is distilled from other fruit, is generally unaged and clear, and must carry the qualifying fruit name.
Grape marc spirit (grappa/marc)
