ARTICLE / FINEST BRANDY
Sipping
on the world’s
finest brandies
I
n recent years there has been
a growing awareness of
South African brandy’s quality
credentials helped by the growing
number of excellent bartenders who
appreciate its versatility and are
using the spirit creatively in a myriad
of cocktails.
Brandy is made from grapes, mostly
from Colombar or Chenin blanc
The smoothest and most
intensely-flavoured brandies are
those that have been pot stilled
varieties, and created
in a way that expresses their fruitdriven flavours which invigorate the
end product to taste “like sunshine
in a glass”, according to Caroline
Snyman, Distell’s Director of Luxury
Brands. South Africa has the ideal
climate to produce grapes with high
acidity and low sugar levels.
South Africa’s brandy masters
double distill a high quality base
wine in traditional copper pot
stills. South African pot still brandy
is governed by strict production
regulations and must be aged for at
least three years in small French oak
casks. “This means that the quality
of even South Africa’s entry-level
products is of a high standard. And
with brandy having being distilled
in the Cape for over three hundred
years, it goes without saying that
our distillers have refined the art of
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