Brandy

Brandy, simply put, is a distilled wine. It is categorised under Distilled Alcoholic Beverages along with Whiskey, Rum, Gin, Vodka and Tequila, but it's in a way a cross connection between Fermented liquor and distilled liquor. A Brandy typically containts 35% to 60% Alcohol by Volume ( 70-120 US proof ) and is usually consumed as an after dinner digestif.

Although Brandy is generally classified as a liquor produced by distilling wine, in a broader sense, this encompasses liquors obtained from the distillation of either pomace ( the soild remains of grapes after mashing and extraction of juice for wine making ) or fruit mash or wine.

It may be noted that Brandy like Gin is also one of the original Water of Life or eau de vie, carried over from the medieval tradition of an aquaous solution of ethanol used as a medicine.

The history of Brandy is closely tied to the development of commercial distillation in and around the 15th Century. In early 15th Century French Brandy made way for a new cross-Atlantic trade or Triangle Trade and replaced Portuguese Fortified Wine or Port from the central role it played in trade, mostly due to the higher alcohol content of the Brandy and ease of transport. However by the late 17th Century, Rum replaced Brandy as the exchange alcohol of choice in the Triangle Trade. More info on Wikipedia for the interested Brandy aficionados. Note that an Apricot Brandy can refer to the liquor (or Eau de Vie, Water of Life) distilled from fermented apricot juice or a liqueur made from apricot flesh and kernels.

Pernod Licorice Liqueur

Pernod Anise is an anise flavoured liqueur invented in France in 1920, after Absinthe was banned in 1915. Pernod is made from distillates of star anise and fennel blended with distillates of 14 herbs including chamomile, coriander and veronica.

Note that Pernod is positioned somewhere in between Anisette and Pastis, since it has Liquorice but it has less Liquorice influence than Pastis.

Grenadine Syrup

Grenadine is a common non-alcoholic pomegranate syrup with a characteristic deep red colour. It is a very popular cocktail ingredient, used for its pomegranate flavour and more for its ability to add a reddish to pink tint to a cocktail.

The name Grenadine originates from the French for pomegranate, which is grenade.

Grenadine is not subjected to regulations like alcoholic beverages are, and there are no region specific formulae any more, and thus manufacturers often replace pomegranate with blackcurrant juice and other fruit juices while retaining the same flavour profile.

Many producers now use artificial ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, water, citric acid, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate and food grade red colour along with natural and artificial flavours.

Peach

DeKuyper Peachtree is a schnapps liqueur from Netherlands. It has an ABV (alcohol-by-volume) percentage of 15% which means DeKuyper Peachtree is 30 proof. Peach Schnapps are made by many different brands, and the DeKuypers is one of the few well knoown brands. Peach Schnapps is often mixed with orange juice or white lemonade, and is used a mixer itself with many primary liquors like Rum, Vodka or Gin. Dekuyper Peachtree Schnapps, like all Schnapps can be drank neat too and is usuially drank after dinner. The more common use is in cocktails and it adds a rich juicy peach flavour to a cocktail.

Peach Schnapps is a type of Schnapps with a peach flavour, made by adding flavour to clear grain spirit. It was introduced by DeKuyper in 1984, and quickly became the top selling Schnapps in America. The favour is intense and that makes it a favourite mixer in cocktails. These heavily sweetened alcoholic beverages are bottled with an alcohol content that varies between 15% and 40% ABV.

Although Peach Schnapps like other Schnapps are mostly used as flavorings and mixers in cocktails, they can definitely be enjoyed straight, and a Peach Schnapps is typically a summer or spring drink.

Peach Schnapps is usually mixed with orange juice or white lemonade, but are often used as mixers in cocktails with other primary base alcohol.

Peach Schnapps is the most favourite Schapps in the UK.

Southern Comfort is now branded as a Whiskey Liqueur and is associated with bourbon , but originally the brand produced peach liqueurand was one of the few peach liqueurs in the market. Produced using neutral spirit and over 100 ingredients, the final liqueur matured for eight months before bottling.

The 99 line of Schnapps is produced by Barton Brands Ltd, now part of the Sazarec Company. The 99 line of Schnapps is the only 99 proof Schnapps and the tastes are intense and makes cocktails stand out.

Italian peacles are luscious, juicy and has a delicate yet intense flavour, it is known to denote the true taste od Italian summer. It is said that Virgillo Pallini Senior’s wife used to preserve the peaches for him in alcohol, since they were his favourite, and then what was left in the jars, she used that to create the luscious peach liqueur. She added fresh peach juice to the peach macerated alcohol and added sparking wine to it to create the world-class exquisite liqueur Pallini Peachcello.

Peach liqueur is sold under various names, peach schnapps, peach brandy and crème de peach are some of them. Whichever is chosen, it’s preferred to be made from real peaches and not cheap peach liqueurs with neutral spirit and artificial peach flavouring.

Marie Brizard Peach Liqueur is a peach liqueur made with the white peaches famous for it’s rich aroma.

Fee Brothers Peach Bitters are made from fresh peaches that give the bitters a tangy flavour and is pretty sweet for a bitters, a distinctive version of Cherry Bitters, this works well in classic Manhattan.

Champagne

Champagne is a sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region of France. Modern champagne is guided by the rules of appellation, which is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown. The grapes Pinot noir, Pinot meunier and Charodonnay are used to produce champagne.

Much ahead of the creation of the sparkling wine, still wines from the Champagne region were known since Medieval France. The Romans established vineyards in the Champagne region and these vineyards started to produce a light, fruity red wine that was a contrast to the heavier Italian brews.

Later Church owned vineyards started producing wines for ceremonies and festivities like the coronation, but the wine makers of Champagne were envious of the reputation of their neighbouring Burgundy wine makers, but the cooler climate of Champagne was a challenge to the production of red wine, and the grapes would struggle to ripen fully, and would have bracing levels of acidity and low sugar level, that would result in lighter and thinner red wines.

The oldest record of sparkling wine is Blanquette de Limoux, a wine invented by Benedictine monks in the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire, near Carcassone. Sparkling wine is created by bottling the wine before the fermentation has ended and another method is by addition of sugar and yeast to trigger a second fermentation in a finished wine.

However, despite the accidental invention of sparkling wine in France outside the Abbey, and despite recording of the in bottle second fermentation process of a finished wine been recorded in the Abbey of Saint-Hilaire by English scientist Christopher Merret in 1662 and noted as a process in use by the Benedictine monks since 1531, wine makers in Champagne were unable to use what is now known as the méthode traditionnelle or particularly méthode champenoise in Champagne until the 17th Century.

This was because glass manufacturing in France was not advanced enough to manufacture bottles that could withstand the internal pressure of the carbonation process. They used Méthode rurale, the early method used by the monks that created Blanquette de Limoux, in which the wine is bottled before the first fermentation is finished, and the yeast sediment after fermentation remains in the bottle.

The méthode champenoise which alternatively is known as méthode traditionnelle outside Champagne uses a second fermentation by adding a little sugar and yeast and then the sediment is slowly removed after an elaborate process of riddling and then disgorging, a process of removing the lees, the sediment that has settled at the neck near the cap of the inverted bottle.

So, in short, sparkling wines are produced outside Champagne too, and like Limoux can be of exquisite quality, but the Champagne due to early clever marketing, became associated with royalty in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries and thus became a popular drink for the middle class too. Which created the legend of Champagne and now, with successful Geographical Indication Appellate, Champagne as a name and the name méthode champenoise can only be used by Champagnes that meet the requirement of the Appellate, and are from Champagne and Champagne only.