Fruit brandy

A bottle of Calvados, a French fruit brandy made from apples

Fruit brandy or fruit spirit is a distilled beverage produced from mash, juice, wine or residues of edible fruits. The term covers a broad class of spirits produced across the world, and typically excludes beverages made from grapes, which are referred to as plain brandy (when made from distillation from wine) or pomace brandy (when made directly from grape pomace). Apples, pears, apricots, plums and cherries are the most commonly used fruits.

Definition

According to a legal definition in the United States, a "fruit brandy" is distilled "solely from the fermented juice or mash of whole, sound, ripe fruit, or from standard grape, citrus, or other fruit wine, with or without the addition of not more than 20 percent by weight of the pomace of such juice or wine, or 30 percent by volume of the lees of such wine, or both."

In the European Union, fruit brandies may not be labeled as "fruit brandy"; instead, the legal English denomination is fruit spirit, which is "produced exclusively by the alcoholic fermentation and distillation of fleshy fruit or must of such fruit, berries or vegetables, with or without stones". A great number of European fruit brandies have a protected designation of origin, and are labeled with their respective protected names instead of "fruit spirit" ("apricot spirit", etc.). Cider spirit and perry spirit (fruit brandy distilled from cider or perry) form a separate legal category. Some fruit spirits may be labeled with alternative names such as kirsch (cherry spirit) or slivovitz (plum spirit) regardless their country of origin.

In British usage, "fruit brandy" may also refer to liqueurs obtained by maceration of whole fruits, juice or flavoring in a distilled beverage, and such liqueurs are legally labeled as "cherry brandy", "apricot brandy" etc. all across the European Union. Such beverages are used similar to cordials, and as an ingredient in cocktails and cakes. Fruit brandies obtained by distillation are often referred by the French term eau de vie.

Fruit brandy usually contains 40% to 45% ABV (80 to 90 US proof). It is often colourless. Fruit brandy is customarily drunk chilled or over ice, but is occasionally mixed.

Types

Including some of the above, there are about 80 different kinds of fruit brandies in the European Union, registered with protected designations of origin from Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Spain. Most of these fruit brandies are named after their region of origin and base ingredients. For example: Schwarzwälder Kirschwasser (cherry spirit of the Black Forest), Framboise d'Alsace (raspberry of Alsace), Aprikot dell'Alto Adige (apricot of South Tyrol), etc. They are often regulated more strictly than generic fruit spirits; other than limiting their region of origin, restrictions may include fruit variants, mashing and fermenting technology, distilling apparatus, barrel aging, etc.

Among the better known fruit brandies are:

• Applejack is an American apple brandy made from the distillation of hard cider. It was once made by fractional freezing which would disqualify it as a proper brandy.
• Brinjevec is a Slovenian brandy distilled from ground and fermented juniper berries.
• Buchu is a South African brandy flavoured with extracts from Agathosma species.
• Calvados is an apple brandy from the French region of Lower Normandy.
• Coconut brandy is actually made from the sap of palmyra palm flowers.
• Damassine brandy is made with the prune fruit of the Damassinier tree in the Jura Mountains of Switzerland
• Eau de vie is a French term for colorless fruit brandy. This term is also applied to grape-based brandy other than Armagnac and Cognac.
• Himbeergeist is a raspberry-based spirit produced mainly in Germany and the Alsace region of France as an infusion of macerated fruit in alcohol. While not a true Obstler, it is typically referred to as a form of Schnaps.
• Kirschwasser is a fruit brandy made from cherries.
• Kukumakranka is a South African brandy flavored with the fruit of the Kukumakranka plant.
• Obstler is a German word for fruit brandy (Schnaps), often referred to as "Schnapps" in English.
• Pálenka or "Pálené" is a common traditional description for Slovak brandy. It must be distilled from Slovakian wild or domestic fruits.
• Pálinka is a traditional Hungarian fruit brandy. It can only be made with fruits from Hungary, such as plums, apricots, peaches, elderberries, pears, apples or cherries.
• Poire Williams is made from the Williams pear, also known as the Bartlett pear.
• Rakia is a type of fruit brandy produced in Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia: it may be made from plums, apples, quinces, pears, apricots, cherries, mulberries, grapes, or walnuts.
• Slivovitz is a straw to yellow-colored plum brandy produced in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
• Țuică, also known as horincă or turţ, is a clear Romanian plum brandy. Other Romanian fruit brandies, often distilled from apples, pears, apricots, mulberries, peaches, quinces, or mixtures of these, are colloquially known as Rachiu.

• Somerset Cider Brandy which dates back to 1678 obtained European protected status in 2011.

See also

• Cordial
• Aperitif