From brandy to cognac, Armagnac, and even apple brandy, you’ll find everything you need to start your brandy journey below. On the palate, this is a thick, viscous brandy, with pronounced flavors of raisins, fig and prune, along with some caramel notes and some surprising meaty notes.

Torres 20 Brandy Torres 20 Brandy

With more than 10 years of experience reviewing beer, wine and spirits, Man of Many’s team of editors has selected a list of the best Brandy. Some variations on the metropolitan opt for dry vermouth rather than sweet, and that's what you'll find in the chrysanthemum.

It’s not a Brandy de Jerez, so it avoids that sickly sweetness often associated with Spanish brandies. The sidecar has seen many makeovers over the years, and it is one that you can easily adapt to your personal taste. The classic cobbler cocktail is straightforward, requiring brandy (or whiskey), simple syrup, and club soda. There's also an egg yolk which, unlike the white that creates a nice foam, gives the drink a distinctly eggy flavor.

Torres 20 | ReserveBar Torres 20 | ReserveBar

A brandy on the rock is a spicy drink with a sweet background of vanilla, cinnamon and oak; perfect for enjoying a relaxing drink, savouring success in each sip.Richard Hennessy, a military officer who had served in King Louis XV’s army retired and moved to the Cognac region of France where he learned to distil cognac and eventually founded the brand the world now knows as Hennessy. Whether you’re talking brandy, fruit brandy, grappa, calvados, pisco, Armagnac, or Cognac, this drink definitely belongs in the modern alcohol spectrum.

Torres 10 Gran Reserva Imperial Brandy | Master of Malt Torres 10 Gran Reserva Imperial Brandy | Master of Malt

While the brand doesn’t make cognac, you’d be hard-pressed to find a brand that makes more exciting, flavourful expressions than Giffard. On the palate, the brandy is silky smooth, with notes of sweet dried fruit, especially golden raisin and fig, some caramel, with hints of vanilla and licorice and a touch of smoke. It’s a spirit distilled from wine or other fruits (in that case the fruit is included in the title). An aromatic brandy that has been aged for 10 to 12 years in butts that previously held Oloroso sherry.While the brand makes myriad well-known, award-winning cognacs like the highly acclaimed Martell Cordon Bleu, we prefer the unique, boundary-pushing Martell Blue Swift. Now run by Cyril Camus, the innovative brand has one hand firmly entrenched in the tradition, terroir, and history of the region and the other in the modern, innovative age. Loaded with flavours like rich oak, vanilla, cinnamon, and dried fruits, the brand’s award-winning Torres 10 Year is one of the most popular Spanish brandies in the world. Torres 20, the most award-winning brandy in the world, should be served with an ice ball to cool it without excessively diluting the aromatic power of the brandy, thus enhancing its flavour and aromas. The brandy is double distilled in Charentais pot stills, originally from Cognac, and is aged in solera for an average of 12 years.

Torres 20 brandy on the rock. - Torres Brandy Torres 20 brandy on the rock. - Torres Brandy

The first written reference to Spanish brandy doesn’t appear until the 16th century, even though circumstantial evidence indicates that distillation was already well established by the 13th century, and likely predates it. Since then, the company has remained in the family with nine generations taking part in the cognac world.

This recipe is a bit like a mint julep, though it takes a slightly different approach in the muddle, and, of course, it prefers brandy over bourbon. The wondrous arts employed by the wise Arnau de Vilanova in the 13th century contain the sublime secret of this brandy: double distillation. He's been writing professionally since 2006 when he got a job as a beer columnist at his local newspaper.