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.

Dark Creme De Cacao

Creme de Cacao is a chocolate liqueur that has probably been produced and sold in France since as early as 1666. In America a Chocolate wine was popular in the 18th Century, it's ingredients included sherry, port, chocolate and sugar.

A modern recipe for chocolate liqueur at home lists the ingredients as chocolate extract, vanilla extract and simple syrup and in purest form, chocolate liqueur is clear and colours may be added.

Creme de Cacao can be consumed straight and as an apertif, in cocktails and in desserts, in dessert sauces, cakes and truffles.

Amaretto Almond Liqueur

Amaretto is a liqueur, a sweet Italian liqueur that originated in Saronno. There are different brands and each have their slight variations and ingredients vary from apricot kernel, bitter almonds, peach stones or almonds, all these are natural sources of the benzaldehyde that brings the almond flavour to the liqueur. Amaretto usually contains a 21% to 48% Alcohol by Volume.

Amaretto liqueur can be drunk straight or used as an ingredient in mixed drinks, or with coffee.

The name Amaretto originated from the Italian word amaro, meaning bitter. Amaretto's bitterness is derived from the drupe kernel and although the bitterness of Amaretto tends to be mild, sweeteners and at time sweet almonds are added to enhance the flavour of the final product.

Hot Black Coffee

Coffee or roasted coffee beans brewed in hot water, is the most popular drink that probably competes only with tea in the non-alocholic beverages category. Coffee being a rich source of caffeine it can help the human body overcome fatigue and improve physical performance and also lower risks of several conditions like Type II Diabetes, Cancer and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Coffee liqueur is a popular and brands like Kahlua and Tia Maria are regulars in cocktails, but often brewed non alcoholic coffee is used in cocktails too, hot black coffee with Rum and whipped cream is what makes a Troical Coffee Cocktail for you, and being a caffeine rich liquid, it is a strange combination with alcohol since it tends to interact with the body and do just the opposite of what alcohol does, that it, tries to keep you alert and awake.

Whipped Cream

Whipped cream is a liquid heavy cream that has been whipped by a whisk or in a mixer until a light fluffy cream that holds its shape. The whipping makes the water and cream form a colloid and often dissolved gas is used which on expansion forms a firm colloid. Whipped cream is also called Chantilly cream.
Whipped cream sold in aerosol cans, where the cream is instantly whipped by the expanding gas, is a ready to use whipped cream, and its known by several names like Squirty Cream, Spray Cream or Aerosol Cream, in Scotland it’s called Skooshy Cream. A common Squirty Cream brand in the United States is Reddi-Wip.

Sugar

Brown Sugar is a sucrose sugar with a distinctive brown colour from the presence of molasses, it is a partially refined or unrefined sugar containing sugar crystals and residual molasses giving it a distinctive taste and flavour of crystallised molasses or toffee. The taste of dark brown sugar is described as a caramel taste with a deep molasses flavour.
Brown sugar is used in cocktails where a caramel candy or toffee flavour is expected.

Caster Sugar is finely ground granulated sugar. It is not as fine a powdered confectioners' sugar and has a little grit to it. It is somewhere between confectioners' sugar and granulated sugar, and melts in mouth with a mild spicy feel to the tongue

Vanilla Sugar is the regular granulated sugar infused with vanilla flavour, by using vanilla pods and seeds to flavour the sugar. A home made alternative is to use vanilla sticks or pods in a jar of sugar and leave it sealed for 4 weeks to allow the vanilla flavour to infuse. Or to use granulated sugar and vanilla extract and blend in a mixer, although this ends up in powdered sugar.