Brandy is the star liquor in several classic cocktails. While some have been lost to time and the pages of dusty bartending guides, the best brandy drinks remain favorites among cocktail lovers today. These drink recipes are a nice introduction to mixing with brandy. The collection showcases the spirit's versatility, from brightly flavored sour drinks to cozy sips for winter. With a few exceptions, they are also among the simplest cocktail recipes—accenting brandy with common bar ingredients —and anyone can mix them up in minutes. The brandy cocktail is a perfect way to dress up a good brandy, and it fits the definition of a cocktail perfectly. It's subtle, elegant, and a delightful drink. The brandy daisy is very similar and one of the better "daisy" cocktails. This delicate cocktail has a well-balanced flavor and is ideal for your finer brandies and cognacs. Just as gin has the martini and whiskey has the Manhattan , brandy has the metropolitan.
What Can Be Mixed With Brandy?
Ingredients
Brandy cocktails are delicious and satisfying. Drinks with brandy are varied and interesting because there are different types and flavors of brandy, which gives you plenty of options to make a unique brandy cocktail. Brandy is a hard liquor that is distilled from wine, and wine is is a beverage made from fermented fruit juice usually grapes, but sometimes other fruits. Therefore, different brandies have different flavors depending on the fruit use and the style of brandy. Types of brandy used in the following cocktails include:. The classic French cocktail , French 75, is traditionally made with French Champagne , Cognac or gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup. This is a riff on that cocktail featuring brandy and grapefruit juice. While you can use any brandy you like, this is especially delightful with Armagnac. Make this easy twist on a classic using Calvados in place of Cognac.
Brandy sour
This brandy cocktail recipe is just one variation of the classic drink. It's incredibly easy to mix up, makes a great dinner drink, and is a fantastic way to show off a nice brandy. You can even use cognac, Armagnac, or any high-end brandy without worrying about damaging the spirit's quality. In fact, you will only be enhancing it with a few simple ingredients. The formula found in this drink is the original definition of a cocktail : distilled spirit, sugar, water, and bitters. There are even two types of bitters in this drink, which give the flavor a nice accent. Technically, back in the late s when this drink was a big hit, this recipe would be called a "fancy brandy cocktail" because it calls for a lemon peel. Bartenders of the day would have skipped the garnish if you simply ordered a "brandy cocktail.
But where did it come from? But whoever eighty-sixed the British gin and welcomed the French cognac to the party is, I believe, lost to history. The bartender there, a certain Troy Alexander, created his eponymous concoction in order to serve a white drink at a dinner celebrating Phoebe Snow.
