The glass must help to contain and then give expression to the aromas. The balloon glass is not the best suited, although it is the type most often proposed for a tasting. The ideal glass is of the “Tulip” type.
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Armagnac is the oldest brandy in France. It is a grape-based spirit with a 700 year old history. It is produced in the region it’s named for – Armagnac, in Gascony, Southwest France.
The Romans introduced the vine in this privileged region, the Arabs the alambic, and the Celts the barrel. Armagnac is born from the meeting of these three cultures.
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Barrel-aged cocktails have been popping up at high-end bars for quite some time, but no two barrel-aged cocktails are the same. We've seen plenty of Negronis and Old Fashioneds, but some bartenders have been getting a lot more creative.
When a cocktail is barrel aged, a number of compounds define what we recognize as key flavor identifiers of aged products: dry, nutty, vanilla, fruity, sweet, toasted, etc. We can break down the reactions that produce these flavors in three categories: infusion, oxidation and extraction
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It’s unfortunate that, these days, people tend to think of cocktails as being made with gin, tequila, the whiskies and vodka. Everyone forgets about brandy. Or, if they don’t, they think of it as a drink for old men in tweed, sipping it from warmed tulips as they smoke their way through Havana’s finest. Or they think of wealthy rappers drinking cognac.
This is a shame because, brandy has much to offer at the bar. If ever there was a spirit as deserving of a renaissance as last week’s rye, this is it.
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They have much in common: they are both French premium spirits produced in South West France, they are both white wine grape brandies with their own Appellation Contrôlée, they are both aged in oak in well-charred barrels, they can both be aged for considerable periods, they are both normally reduced in strength before bottling, and they share many of the same quality descriptors. But there are many differences....
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