Our Favorite American Brandies

Pendray's Distillery is the distilling arm of PasoPort Winery, a winery specializing in port-style wines in Templeton, California. This is a viognier-based brandy aged in the winery's white port barrels.

Harvest Spirits holds New York's first farm-distillery license and is located on a 200-acre apple farm in the Upper Hudson Valley. This is truly a farm-to-glass spirit made only of apples coming from the third generation family farm. Distilled two times in their 100-gallon copper pot still. Aged for 2 years in 50-gallon ex-bourbon casks (usually Woodford Reserve), which are used multiple times then finished in 15-gallons quarter-casks for additional color and barrel flavor. Bottled and labeled by hand and like their other products no charcoal-filtration and no sugars or other additives are used.

Agnesi 1799 Brandy is an American brandy sourced and blended by the Coppola family from stocks of California brandy. It is aged for 5 years and brought down to 80 proof with Napa Valley water from the Coppola's family estate in Inglenook. The brandy is named for Maria Gaetana Agnesi, an Italian 18th century mathematician, philosopher, and theologian. 1799 was the year of her death.

Argonaut Fat Thumb Brandy is a blend of 8 different pot and coffey still brandies ranging in age from 2 to 16 years, and with grapes that include grenache, French colombard, and muscat, in addition to blends. A quarter of the batch is a 9 year-old pot still brandy, with the other components each comprising anywhere from 4-20% of the blend.

Introduced in fall 2019, Copper & Kings American Apple Brandy is a new permanent addition to the brand's portfolio. It is made from fermented fresh-pressed apple juice which is distilled in copper pot stills. The apple brandy is then matured in ex-Kentucky bourbon and new American oak barrels before bottling at 92 proof. It is bottled without chill-filtration and without added boisé (oak flavoring) or artificial apple flavor.

Master distiller/blender, Daniel Farber employs a single, 100-gallon antique Charentais still that he imported directly from Cognac, France after studying there for several years. Osocalis uses traditional Cognac techniques to make their Rare Alambic Brandy while taking advantage of California's unique terroir. The “Rare Alambic Brandy” is comprised of mostly of Pinot Noir, Semillon and Colombard with the bulk of the eau de vies clocking in at around 6 years of age with some older stock to give depth.

Each bottle contains approximately 20 pounds of Palisade pears. Open-air fermented, distilled once, and aged in 100-gallon French and American oak barrels. Each spring, Peach Street Distillers places approximately 1000 bottles over baby pears to let the pear grow inside the bottle creating a beautiful (and limited) expression.

BERTOUX Brandy is a California brandy made from a blend of 3-7 year old pot-distilled brandies aged in American and French oak barrels. It was blended by renown bartender Jeff Bell (PDT NYC & PDT Hong Kong) and acclaimed sommelier Thomas Pastuszak (The NoMad NYC/LA/Las Vegas) and designed to be featured in cocktails. The name BERTOUX is inspired by French inventor Jean Bertoux, who patented a way for a bicycle to accommodate a passenger. Perhaps a Sidecar cocktail is what you should create first. This brandy is set to launch in NYC, LA and San Francisco beginning Fall 2018.

Produced in Portland, Oregon, Clear Creek Reserve Apple Brandy is made using Yakima Valley Golden Delicious apples. They are crushed and fermented whole. After distillation, the apple brandy is aged in used and new Limousin oak barrels for a minimum of 8 years. Previously called: Clear Creek Eau de Vie de Pomme 8 Year Apple Brandy

The Sacred Bond from Christian Brothers is a named, in part, for it being bottled-in-bond, the first for a grape brandy. Aged for 4 years in former Heaven Hill bourbon barrels, the brandy is distilled in California in copper pot-stills. It is bottled at 50% ABV and as such is suggested for use in cocktails.

After a four-year hiatus, Laird's returns with a Bottled in Bond version of their Straight Apple Brandy in late summer 2018. Due to high demand, the brand had to remove this designation as they couldn't produce enough brandy in a single season as is required for Bottled in Bond spirits. They have now doubled production in the fall and added a spring distillation. This Straight Apple Brandy has been aged for at least four years in oak and is bottled at 100 proof.

Germain Robin Craft Method Brandy is made from a blend of California wines such as colombard, pinot noir, and chenin blanc. First made in 1987, each release contains a Lot Number to distinguish each years release. If it were a cognac, it would be classified as a VSOP as it is aged about 6 years of age. Once named Fine Alambic Brandy.