Our Favorite Brandies From December

Using a Christian Carl artisan still, Peach Street Distillers Grappa of Viognier is distilled once. The must from Dubuque Canyon Winery's viognier grapes are used in distillation. Made in Palisade, Colorado, it is available in 375ml-sized bottles at 40% ABV.

This unaged apple brandy is distilled from New Hampshire grown Macintosh and Cortland apples. While most of the distillery's brandy production is ageing in barrels, this unaged eau de vie is released without ageing.

The Copper & Kings Cr&ftwerk lineup is a four-part series made via collaborating with four different American craft breweries. They took their brandy and aged it in used beer casks from each brewery for a full 12 months, and bottled the result at 110 proof. From Oskar Blues in North Carolina, they obtained barrels which previously held the G'Knight and Deviant Dale's Imperial IPAs.

Finger Lakes Distilling is a New York State Farm Distillery, which means they must use locally grown products to create their spirits. To that end, they are located on a vineyard in one of New York's premier wine regions. The Pear Brandy is a handcrafted, European-style eaux-de-vie (un-aged). The whole pear, pulp, skins and all are fermented then distilled in a copper still. Note: This is sold in 375ml sized bottles and available only in New York State.

This pear brandy was made by distilling pear cider sourced from one of their neighbors in Maine: The Apple Farm in Fairfield. They then age it in oak for an undisclosed amount of time. Tree Spirits of Maine proudly supports the local movement, ensuring that they know everyone who helps supply the ingredients of their fine wines and spirits.

Aged for 40 years, this “very rare” cognac is made with ugni blanc, folle blanche, and colombard grapes harvested from their vineyards in the Bouteville & St. Même-Les-Carrières communes. Giraud's cognacs stand apart in that they only produce pure vintage cognacs, never blending from different years.

The group that owns the parent company of the Cardenal Mendoza brandy, Sánchez Romate, was initially a sherry producer. They first started to distill brandy for family and friends in 1887 and eventually gave in to public demand and began selling them. This brandy is aged in a solera system which used barrels that previously held Pedro Ximenez sherry, a sweet, fortified wine. The average age of the solera is 30 years for this bottling.

This eau-de-vie style brandy from Coppersea Distilling uses local fruit sourced from Hudson Valley farms, whole-fruit mashing with no sugar added, and open-top, wild yeast fermentation. The spirit is then distilled in a direct-fire still before being aged a minimum of 6 months in a neutral vessel (stainless steel) before bottling.

As gewürztraminer is a traditional grape from Alsace and Germany rather than Italy, it is called a marc instead of grappa, but they are synonyms. It is pot-distilled from the pomace of gewürtztraminer grapes from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. It is sold in 375ml sized bottles.

Daniel Bouju is an independent cognac house which dates back to 1805. The family's estate is in Saint-Preuil in the Charente in the Grande Champagne region. Ugni blanc is their grape of choice and they age in Limousin oak and refuse to use coloring or boisé (mix of sugar, oak chips, and lower proof brandy) to their products.