Brandy, aging

The most famous brandy comes from the Cognac region of France. It is double distiked in traditional pot stiks by smak farmers and sold to the blenders for aging in limousin oak casks. French law requires that the stiks be 3000 Hters or less and that the distikation be completed by March 31. 

In the United States about 95% of the brandy comes from California. The first brandy was made in 1837 though it was not produced in quantity until 1867. Ak California brandy must be made from grapes grown and distiked in the state and aged a minimum of two years in oak barrels. 

Benedictine was made in 1510 by Dom Bernardo Vinceki at the abbey in Erecomp, Normandy. It is one of the few Hqueurs that is aged for four years after blending. Benedictine and Brandy (B B) was introduced in 1937 after the discovery that Americans were adding brandy to Benedictine. Chartreuse, first made in 1605, is formulated with over 130 herbs and spices macerated in brandy. 

Benzoic aldehydes mainly cover syringaldehyde and vanillin. Natural vanilla is prepared from the seeds (beans) of Vanilla planifolia, which may contain about 21 mg/ 100 g FW total phenols, including the major components vanillin (19.4 mg/100 g FW), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (1 mg/100 g FW), and vanillic acid (0.4 mg/100 g FW) (Clifford 2000b). In mango, vanillin has been found as free as well as vanillyl glu-coside (Sakho and others 1997). It has also been found in lychees (Ong and Acree 1998) and wines (Moreno and others 2007). For analysis of both brandy and wine aged in oak barrels, the limits of detection were found to be 27.5, 14.25, 14.75, and... 

Brandi, M. T. and Amundson, R. (2008). Leaf age as a risk factor in contamination of lettuce with Escherichia coli 0157 H7 and Salmonella enterica. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74, 2298-2306. 

The term brandy traces back to the Dutch word brandewij n ( burnt wine ) which was introduced by Dutch traders in the sixteenth century to describe wine that had been burnt or boiled, in order to distil it. Actually only spirits distilled from wine are called brandy. These spirits are normally aged in wooden casks (usually... 

Grape brandies and some fruit brandies are traditionally stored in oak casks for varying periods of time for aging or maturation. During... 

The overall chemical composition of brandy is derived from four general sources the fruit, alcoholic fermentation, distillation, and aging in wood. The scope of this discussion is limited to chemical aspects of the components of wine and their behavior during distillation. 

The term brandy as used here refers to distillates of grape wine before aging. Federal regulators require that distillates derived from other fruits must show the name of the fruit, for example, pear brandy. 

Only a small amount of pot-still brandy is produced in California. It is used primarily for blending, in small percentages, with continuous still brandy after aging. Equipment used for this purpose consists of pot-rectifiers. In at least one case, the fractionating column is so arranged that it can serve either as the concentrating section for the pot or as a part of a continuous still unit. 

Other aliphatic aldehydes have been identified and quantitatively measured in various brandies (31, 32). These include small amounts of formaldehyde, propionaldehyde, isobutyraldehyde, isovaleraldehyde, furfural, etc. Furfural is a normal component of pot-still distillates, but its presence in continuous still brandies is negligible before aging in wood. 

BUTYL ESTERS OF FATTY ACIDS EXTRACTED FROM AGED BEVERAGE BRANDY [. o ... 

Many other odorous or volatile compounds, particularly furfural derivatives, nitrogenous compounds, and other phenols, have been identified in distilled beverages after barrel aging and not before (23), but their role is not yet clear. So far it appears that the components contributed by oak to wine and brandy probably are common to most mildly pleasant but not distinctively odorous hardwoods. They appear to be agreeably combined with a moderate tannin level and generally unaccompanied by any unpleasant tastes and odors in cooperage oak. 

Aged Microbiological Honey Brandy, caramel, honey Sweat, dirt, malt, bread, dough, meat, salami, sauerkraut... 

Oak Quercus sp.) has long been used for aging fine wines and brandies thanks to its physical and chemical properties. 

Most of the USALLE approaches reported are of the discrete type and use an ultrasonic bath. Usuaiiy a vessei containing the sampie and the immiscibie, acceptor phase is immersed in the transmitting iiquid heid in a bath and the process involves application of US for a preset time, phase separation and repetition of the extraction cycle, if required. With siight differences, this procedure has been used to extract aroma compounds from grape must, wine [3-5], aged brandies and aqueous aicohoiic wood extracts [6], or specific compound famiiies such as monoterpenoids [7] as weii as voiatiles [8] both from wine, pesticides from honey [9] and methyimercury from bioiogicai materials [10]. 

An interesting comparative study of aroma compounds in aged brandies and aqueous alcoholic wood extracts involving US-assisted extraction was carried with a view to identify the components of brandy aroma already present in grapes and wines, those formed in the distillation step and those coming from the oak wood [6]. After three extraction cycles with 30, 10 and 10 ml of dichloromethane in an ultrasonic bath, the volume of the overall extract was reduced to 100-200 pi in a rotary evaporator and the individual components quantified by GC-FID. The relatively high standard deviations obtained in some cases (0.1-18.4%) can be ascribed mainly to both irreproducibility in the US energy provided by the bath and the low final extract volumes. 

Brandies have the special feature that they are prepared by distillation of a wine, generally a grape wine, rather than a beer . The great variety in flavor and qualities of the various brandies originates from the different types of wines distilled, whether the distillation was batch or continuous, and the aging and blending details. 

Delgado, T., Gomez-Cordoves, C., and Villarroya, B. (1990). Relationship between phenolic compounds of low molecular weight as indicators of the aging conditions and quality of brandies, Am. J. Enol. Vitic., 41(4), 342-345. 

Mattivi, F., Versini, G., and Sarti, S. (1989a). Study on the presence of scopo-letin in commercial wood-aged brandies, Riv. Vitic. Enol., 3,23-30. 

The aging of brandy, similar to that of whisky, takes place in oak casks. The conjoint action of the oxygen of the atmosphere and the resins, gums, and tannins extracted from the wood are responsible for the improvement of the liquor. These compounds, being capable of easy oxidation, pass through a series of reactions. Aromatic compounds particularly agreeable in taste and odor are formed. 

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