My favorite brandy of all time is Kelt VSOP Tour du Monde. Just a few years ago, it was selling for $40 a bottle; now it’s $60. Brands like Martell, Hennessy, Courvoisier, and Hardy have suffered similar inflation. Capitalism at its finest. Regardless, all of them are too expensive for me to drink on a regular basis. For that, I need a good cheap brandy under $30. American producers include Paul Masson, Christian Brothers, Korbel, and E&J Gallo. And there are readily-available European offerings such as St. Rémy from France, Hartley from Italy, Pedro Domecq from Mexico, and Veterano from Spain.
I gravitated to the St. Rémy, which is made by the powerhouse French operation Rémy Martin. Their other offerings start at $50 and go up to $50,000 per bottle. As of this writing, the St. Rémy VSOP is just $14, however. (There is a St. Rémy XO, but at $26 it is a poor value compared to the basic bottle.)* Although quite drinkable, the St. Rémy is a bit hot and not as smooth as what I prefer. Meanwhile, the American brands tend to bring more softness and sweetness—but sometimes too much.
So it occurred to me: why not blend for the best of both? After mixing a bottle of the St. Rémy with each of the Americans, I settled on Christian Brothers, at $14 a bottle. Does this make for a remarkable brandy like Tour du Monde? Of course not. But, for just $14 I have a custom blend that I can enjoy whenever I feel like it.
*Since I originally wrote this post, St. Rémy introduced St. Rémy Signature brandy. It’s pricier at around $30, but in my opinion it’s a big step up from their XO—and worth trying if you want a standalone bottle that doesn’t need blending.
Listen to my podcast about brandy, Cognac, and Armagnac here.
I don’t drink too much whiskey, but I drink plenty of brandy and Cognac. Here are some to try, most of them not cheap unfortunately, and some to avoid.
Highly Recommended
RECOMMENDED
https://winervana.com/ferrand-Cognac-1840-original-formula/
https://winervana.com/bache-gabrielsen-vs-the-kors-Cognac/
recommended with reservations
NOT RECOMMENDED
Here are some glasses to sip from:
And hey—if you try the blend (or create your own), drop a comment below. I’d love to hear about what you’re sipping.
A note about brandy vs. Cognac: brandy is a liquor distilled from wine and aged in wood. (Brandy can be made from fruits other than grapes as well, but that’s a story for another time.) Cognac is brandy that specifically comes from the town of Cognac and the delimited surrounding areas in western France. (The one which has the most favorable soil and geographical conditions is Grande Champagne.) So, all Cognacs are brandy, but not all brandies are Cognac. For more detail on brandy and Cognac, click here.
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