tell me about brandy

[Anonymous]

I read a lot of English books and books set 50+ years ago and I feel like brandy was a bigger thing in the past. Do people still drink it? Cook with it? What is considered a decent affordable brandy?

Examples:
- those giant brandy snifters and then the added accessory of the candle warmer - it just seems so 1950s/retro
- In an early chapter of All Creatures Great and Small James thinks he is offered a drink after a difficult procedure and fantasizes it's a cup of sweet tea laced with brandy
- 1930s cozy mystery British book series the heroine constantly is offered a shot of brandy after a difficult experience
- after being out on the windswept moors/in a driving rainstorm people offered brandy to warm them up
- flambeed desserts with brandy

etc etc. I have never been offered brandy in my life. Bourbon, yes. Brandy, no. Am I missing out?

[Anonymous]

there is currently a shortage on Hennessey.

[Anonymous]

A cheaper brandy (but not flavored) and ginger ale has been my winter drink.

[Anonymous]

Am wondering if I need to start a thread in off-topic titled "is brandy drinking low class?" in order to get more input.

[Anonymous]

No, you're not missing out. Brandy- Blech

[Anonymous]

There is a cocktail which is a glass of champagne, a drop of brandy and a small spoon of brown sugar

[Anonymous]

Brandy is a hugely broad term that includes all fermented fruit juice.

Cognac, grappa, calvados, etc are all types of brandy.

[Anonymous]

I don’t really like cognac or other types of brandy. But I also don’t like whiskey, neither scotch nor bourbon nor any other kind.

[Anonymous]

I actually love brandy. I add a splash to ginger tea for a warm drink. Or, glass of ice, healthy splash of brandy and top with speaking water/seltzer and a squeeze of lemon or lime. Or, the above plus a splash of ginger soda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually love brandy. I add a splash to ginger tea for a warm drink. Or, glass of ice, healthy splash of brandy and top with speaking water/seltzer and a squeeze of lemon or lime. Or, the above plus a splash of ginger soda.

What kind of brandy do you use?

[Anonymous]

I keep a not-bottom-of-the-barrel brandy in the house. I believe a person *can* go super high end. Mine is not.

I use it for:
Christmas baking
Deglazing for sauces (I also will use vermouth for this)
Adding a spot to a hot chocolate
Anything that I want to flambe. (What if we spontaneously want bananas foster on a Wednesday? I am ready.)

I don't drink it straight up. I might consider putting it in a mixed drink, if the recipe called for it.

[Anonymous]

I love the are glasses you serve them in and the large glasses and warming the brady in your hands.

[Anonymous]

I love metaxa 5 star and a splash of sprite

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brandy is a hugely broad term that includes all fermented fruit juice.

Cognac, grappa, calvados, etc are all types of brandy.

I thought this was apple liquor, my mother used to put it in summer pudding (fruit pudding)

[Anonymous]

Wisconsin style Brandy Old Fashioneds, baby. That’s what I use brandy for. Like a very boozy fruit punch.