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- What is Cognac? July 12, 2010 in What is Cognac? 4
Brandy and Whiskey.. What’s the difference? And Cognac and Whisky?
While Cognac is made from grapes (the brandwijn), Whiskey is made from grains. Both are fermented, and convert sugar to ethanol..
Whiskies
One thing that whisky and cognac have in common is that they are aged in barrels: They get more and more smooth. The spirits pick up quite a lot from the wooden barrels: Color and taste of course. And scotch and cognac share the method of distillation in pot stills. Both spirits are distilled at low proof.
Grapes vs. grains
But let’s be honest: There are quite some differences between whiskey and brandy. It begins with the raw materials, over methods and how to consume the actual product.
Whiskey is made from grains, normally barley. That is then mixed with water and yeast, then it gets distilled. The spirit then is aged in oak barrels.
Now what is the difference between Whiskey and Whisky? One word with the “e” and the other one without it. The spelling referrs to the location of distilling: Whisky comes from Scotland, Japan or Canada – and whiskey comes from Ireland and the United States.
The name “brandy” comes from Dutch “branwijn”, burnt wine. And that is quite a good name, as wine is distilled for brandies and of course Cognac.
The raw material of cognac is grapes: A juice is fermented and we get a very acid wine as a result – perfect for cognac production. The juice is fermented about 5 days before distilling, after a double distillation process, the eaux-de-vie is stocked in oak casks.
What about age? Is Cognac older than Whiskey?
Both Cognac and Whiskey is aged in casks. The age of brandies can be below three to six years, and Cognac at least 2 1/2 years. Most of the brandies are below six years, but can also be a hundred years old.
While cognac and brandy uses age terms such as VOP, VS, VSOP or XO, Whiskey shows the exact age of its content: for example 3, 5, 10, 12 or 15 years. There are also Whiskies at 18 years, but older seems to be rare.
brandy
While brandy is seen as a digestif, after dinner spirit – perhaps with some coffee – Whiskey doesn’t have such an “old” and “conservative” image, and is also consumed in bars or nightclubs. Cognac is about to (re)become more and more a cocktail drink. Slowly. Even when it used to be an important cocktail ingredient some time ago.
Regarding the drinking: You may drink a whiskey with water, some people think you would never add water to brandy, even when it was done hundreds of years ago. Why? Because Cognac is made from fruits and Whisky from grains – that means it has a different structure. We are not sure if that’s true, at least it’s just an opinion. There are also Cognacs where you can add a spash of water.
So, brandy and whiskey differ in quite some points.
And what is the difference between a brandy and a cognac? Well… all Cognac is brandy, but not all brandy is Cognac.
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whiskies pic: bitzcelt Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic
brandy pic: ozjimbob Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic
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4 Responses
This article is utter nonsense. Your lack of whisky/whiskey knowledge clearly shows.
Author wrote: “While cognac and brandy uses age terms such as VOP, VS, VSOP or XO, Whiskey shows the exact age of its content: for example 3, 5, 10, 12 or 15 years. There are also Whiskies at 18 years, but older is rare.
So basically one could say Cognac is older than Whiskey.”
“Whiskey is much more social and often consumed in bars or nightclubs. But Cognac is about to become more and more a cocktail drink. Slowly.”
Thanks Gman. Could you be so kind to tell us what exactly you mean?
It’s true we are not whiskey specialists, but we talked to one – so this article is based on an exchange with a person who seemed to be quite informed.
The second sentence you quote might be a bit misunderstandable: we were trying to point out the difficulties of the ageing topic with cognac grades. It’s always quite complicated. Verdict: consumers don’t understand VS, VSOP but numbers are easier.
The third sentence you quote we modified. We were trying to say that whiskey is more present in in social life, with young and old people, mixdrinks and neat. Cognac remains a spirit that is considered “old” “expensive” and grandpa’s drink. Slowly the cognac cocktail culture is (re)inventing itself.
I’ve been a whisky and whiskey drinker for 30 years. Rye, single malts, bourbon, you name it. Recently I discovered Hine Rare cognac as well as some of the dirt cheap French brandy out there. I was impressed by the Hine and the brandy and my doctor tells me cognac and brandy are better for me than whisky(ey). That’s health wise. He’s also a single malt fan. Great blog you got.
I’m a big Scotch Malt Whisky drinker and enjoy many varietes of whisky at various strengths. Why though is it so hard to get cognac at cask strength? I have only ever seen at cask strength twice (both around 50% ABV) and both of these examples were bottled by Scottish Independant Whisky bottlers.
I enjoy cognac but often feel it would benefit from just a little higher ABV. Can you direct me to any sources of higher strength cognacs or any particuarly good examples? There is plenty of cognac avaliable in the UK but as I said I’ve only found two above 40% ABV (which is the Legal minimum for Scotch Malt Whisky).