BRANDY. This well known liquid is the alcoholic or spirituous portion of wine, sepa rated from the aqueous part, the colouring matter, &c„ by distillation. The word is of German origin, and in its German form, l,rantwein, signifies burnt wine, or wine that has undergone the action of fire. Brandies, however, have been made from potatoes, car rots, beet root, pears, and other vegetable substances ; but they are all inferior to true brandy. Brandy is prepared in most wine countries, but that of France is the most esteemed. It is procured not only by distil ling the wine itself, but also by fermenting and distilling the mere or residue of the pres sings of the grape. It is procured indiffer ently from red or white wine ; and different wines yield very different proportions of it, the strongest of course giving the largest quantity. Brandy obtained from mare has a more acrid flavour than that from wine, which appears to be occasioned by an oil con tained in the skin of the grape, which when separated proves so acrid that a single drop would deteriorate several gallons of good brandy. The celebrated brandy of Cognac, a town in the department of Charente, and that brought from Andraye, seem to owe their excellence to being made from white wine, so fermented as not to be impregnated with this oil. Like other spirit, brandy is colourless when recently distilled. By mere keeping however, owing probably to some change in the soluble matter contained in it, it acquires a slight colour, which is much increased by keeping in casks, and is made of the required intensity by the addition of burnt sugar,- or other colouring matter.
The production of brandy, so far as obtain ing the alcoholic principle is concerned, is described under DISTILLATION.
Although brandy drinkers despise or affect to despise patent or British brandy, yet it is a question whether this may not be quite as pure and strong as much that goes by the name of foreign brandy. So enormous is the duty paid on foreign brandy, that the French manufacturers are induced to strengthen it artificially by spirits of wine, and the English dealers to increase its bulk by water and other additions. Foreign brandy ought to be a
little over proof;' but it is frequently 12 to 15 degrees below proof. Dr. Normandy, in his recent work on adulteration, has the following remarks on the worst or really frau dulent brandy :— Brandy, when newly distilled, is white, but that met with in commerce is always of a yellowish, brown, or dark brown colour, which is due to the presence of some extractive matter, and of tannic: acid, which it has dis• solved from the oak casks in which it has been kept for a long time. But in order to simulate this colour of genuine brandy, the brandy of commerce is nothing else than new brandy or alcohol, at once converted apparently into old brandy by means of caramel, or burnt sugar.' British brandy, for which patents have been obtained by many English distillers, is the result of numerous attempts to produce, from malt-spirit, a liquor that shall bear much resemblance to foreign brandy. The best malt spirit is the basis of all the British brandies ; and the flavour, colour, and degree of strength, are brought about by the addition of some among the following long list of ingredients : water, red tartar, acetic ether, French vinegar, French plums, wine-bottoms, tincture of ca techu, oak shavings, bitter almonds, burnt sugar, tincture of vanilla, oil of cassia, rum, &c. : each manufacturer having a favourite recipe of his own. It is said that where black tea is cheap, as in America, it is often employed to give an imitative brancl,y-roughness to coloured spirits, Whatever may be the quantity of imitative brandy made in England, the importation of foreign brandy still continues very large. In 1849 it amounted to no less than 4,480,30G gallons.
Brandy is an ingredient in a large number ii of cordials and liqueurs ; such as cherry brandy, .carraway brandy, lemon brandy, orange brandy, peach brandy, raspberry brandy, and the like. They all bear a family -esem blance in so far as they consist of brandy, flavoured by the fruits or seeds whose name they bear, sweetened with sugar, and rendered fragrant with spices.