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"Buy any brand-wine, buy any brand-wine?" London
street cry, 1622
Brandy Drinks
The name brandy comes from Old Dutch Brandtvtjn,
meaning "burnt (i.e. distilled) wine," and to the end of
the 17th century the old original form, "brandy-wine"
was used. Properly, brandy is an ardent spirit distilled
from wine, although similar liquors distilled from fer
mented juice of peaches, cherries, apples, or other fruits,
are also called brandies . . . such as peach brandy.
Genuine cognac is recognized as the finest of brandies
and was called cognac from the fact that a superior
brandy is produced at or near the town of Cognac in the
Charente region of France, center of a famous grape
growing territory. For the same reason brandy is better
known today as cognac in its native land than by its ori
ginal French name of eau-de-vie. In the United States it
is usually called "cognac brandy."
While the term cognac is loosely applied to any French
brandy, it should be borne in mind that all brandy is
not cognac. Among the better known cognacs are those
of Martell, established in 1715, and that produced by the
firm of James Hennessy, whose bottles carry the familiar
"three-star" designation. In 1765 the original James Hen
nessy, an Irish adventurer, offered his sword in service
to the French king, and during his fighting days was
stationed in the Charente valley where he became en
amored of the excellent brandy there produced. When
swords were sheathed, Hennessy settled in this vineyard
country and became a grape-grower, a brandy-distiller,
and a cognac-bottler.
"I was entertained, tvith Kisses fine, and Brandy Wine." 1719.
Seventy-two