The Rebranding of American Brandy

Until very recently, if you wanted an American brandy, you had a tough choice to make. You could bend low for a bottom-shelf, mass-market brand like Christian Brothers or Paul Masson. Or you could spend a few hours, and a lot of money, tracking down a bottle from one of the few California distilleries making Cognac-style brandy, like Osocalis.

But if you’ve been paying attention, you may have found yourself lately reaching a few shelves higher for a clutch of new names: Bertoux. Copper & Kings. Journeyman. Buoyed by the sustained boom in bourbon and rye, American craft distilleries are moving beyond the increasingly crowded whiskey category and turning their sights toward brandy. At the same time, establishment value brands are stepping up their game, releasing higher-quality (and higher-priced) expressions—like E & J Gallo’s Argonaut line—to capture the discerning curiosity of a new generation of drinkers.

In a way, the brandy renaissance is a return to history. Brandy made from all sorts of fruit—especially peaches and pears—was among the most popular spirits in colonial America. (According to current federal regulations, a product labeled “brandy,” by itself, is made by fermenting and distilling grape juice; brandy made from other fruit has to be specified as such.) But by the turn of the last century, as the grain industry grew and whiskey became cheap and ubiquitous, American brandy suffered, and, like rye, largely disappeared after Prohibition.

It’s ironic, then, that the resurgence in American brandy owes much to the return of American whiskey. Modern drinking culture is heterodox and curious, and even diehard whiskey fans are eager to explore other brown spirits, especially one with such close flavor and aromatic parallels. Bartenders, too, are constantly seeking new spirits with which to tweak classic cocktails. And American brandy, with its balance between fruit and wood, makes an apt agent for experimentation—swapping for whiskey in an Old-Fashioned, or sprucing up a traditional Cognac-based drink, like a Vieux Carré.

That crossover appeal, and distillers’ awareness of it, is evident in a new breed of upstart brands. Some, like Starlight, are attached to wineries; others, like Journeyman or Catoctin Creek, are distilleries already known for making whiskey and other spirits. Where an earlier generation of higher-end brandy distillers—Osocalis, Germain-Robin and Charbay, all based in California—was self-consciously European, using Old World grapes to make Old World flavors (think thick, oily rancio notes), newer brands aim for something different: more muted grape notes, more vanilla and caramel from the wood.

Bertoux, a brand developed by Jeff Bell of PDT and Thomas Pastuszak of The NoMad, could easily pass for a whiskey among unsuspecting drinkers. Copper & Kings, based in the Butchertown neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky, borrows blatantly from its whiskey-making neighbors, using charred new oak barrels and used bourbon barrels to age its spirit. And Argonaut Fat Thumb, from Gallo, offers a sweet, fruit-forward profile that can easily substitute for Cognac in a Sidecar.

A recent tasting panel at PUNCH examined 20 American brandies, old and new, to figure out where the category is headed. Here are the 10 standouts: