Brandy is an intimidating thing. It’s what my father’s friends drank after business dinners. They’d get the fancy little glasses down from my mom’s fancy glass cabinet, loosen their ties and talk about important things like sales projections and stock dividends. I haven’t thought much about brandy in recent years because I drink a good bit of bourbon and rye and beer and there are only so many hours in a single day. But brandy, this very adult spirit that has an old-world charm, is having a moment.
Brandy is fortified wine, like port, only not as syrupy and a hell of a lot boozier. It’s made all over the world, and gets its name from the Dutch (“brandewijn” means “burnt wine”). The most recognizable kind of brandy is Cognac (talk about fancy and intimidating), but American craft distilleries all over the country are getting into the market. Copper and Kings, out of Louisville, Kentucky, is leading the way with a handful of different varieties, from an unaged brandy called “Immature” to a limited release brandy finished in tequila barrels.
They sent me an unaged Apple Brandy and an aged version of the same spirit called Floodwall. Both are 100 proof, so this isn’t aperitif territory; this is liquor. I’m pretty sure brandy was the first booze I snuck from my dad’s liquor cabinet, because when I take a sip of the unaged Apple Brandy from Copper and Kings, it tastes like I’m 10 years old and about to be in trouble. The aged Apple Brandy, which has been socked away in used bourbon and sherry casks, is much more palatable, smelling like cherries and leather and bringing a lot of the bourbon elements into the sip. It’s good, and there are plenty of people who will want to drink Floodwall neat, but I still think this is a spirit for cocktails.
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