When it comes to brown spirits, brandy is not generally at the top of people’s boozy radar, and, for a long time, cognac has been portrayed as a luxury splurge, often associated with the hip-hop world. Standard grape-based brandy forms the basis for some of the most classic of cocktails, including the Sazerac, Vieux Carré, and Sidecar, but there is a world beyond this, including the apple-based Calvados, as well as Schnapps, Grappa, Pisco, and a more generalized category known as eau de vie (EDV).
With the cocktail renaissance, the push toward super-premium spirits, and the drive to appeal to younger consumers, brandy in all its forms offers bartenders a vast resource to introduce guests to something beyond whisk(e)y and rum.
These days, brandy cocktails aren’t a tough sell. Two decades into the cocktail renaissance, we’re seeing “a well-educated consumer base that not only has a fair amount of knowledge but is also willing to try new things. It's a whole different ball game,” explains Cognac educator Adam Robinson. The result is curiosity about and eagerness to learn and be adventurous.
For guests who aren’t quite sure about ordering a brandy or cognac cocktail, Lindsay Rae Burleson of Two Headed Dog in Houston has found that keeping the drinks approachable is key. “It's menu language,” she stresses. “Yes, it feels cool to know you had a malic and tartaric acid-adjusted orange juice or used a hydrosol for something, but the average drinker doesn't know what any of those terms are and, given the choice between a straightforward classic and an overly worded menu, they'll shoot for the less panic inducing. Unless you make it interesting and fun to read.”
Because of all the different styles—aged with a richer flavor and unaged with a bright fruit-forward character—brandy is a very malleable spirit, whether it’s the focus of a drink, a delivery system for an infusion, or a modifier. The application is naturally influenced by the type of brandy. Robinson prefers fruity, floral younger cognac in more sour-style cocktails, while he employs those with spicier notes for stirred drinks, which are naturally more robust.
At one of his bars, which specializes in more “esoteric” drinks, he has had great response from infusing his cognac with mushrooms on one occasion and truffles on another. He’s also a fan of French and domestic apple brandies as they work in both sour and stirred cocktails. Applejack, a spirit that hails from the colonial-era, is probably best known for being used in the sour-style Jack Rose cocktail, an elegantly simple combination of Applejack (or apple brandy), grenadine, and lemon juice.
International styles beyond those familiar from France and the States can bring unique qualities to a drink. “I really enjoy using Singani as a modifier in cocktails,” says Robinson. “It's a very flavorful unaged Bolivian grape-based product that can add a lovely floral element to a cocktail. I usually pair it with another unaged spirit like vodka or gin.”
Burleson also enjoys stepping beyond the familiar, “Much like the Kerouac quote ‘the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk,’ the only brandies for me are the weird ones, the outsider fruit ones, the ones that tell a story and sometimes are a little too funky. I think they always make a more interesting cocktail.”
Eau de vie (EDV) is a distinct brandy category that can be both the center of and a modifier for a drink. Rather than using a grape distillate, EDV use other fruits like pears and cherries. Poire William (pear) and Kirsch (cherry) might be two of the best-known examples of the latter types. EDV is all about pure, clean, fruit-forward flavors, which are produced by either fermentation or maceration of the fruit before distillation. Little, or more often no, oak aging further emphasizes the soul of the fruit being used. While much of the EDV available hails from Franch, it is made around the world: Grappa from Italy, Schnapps from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, as well as Pisco, which is more commonly unaged, but can be aged as well.
Los Angeles bartender Dave Kupchinsky has used these unaged, clear spirits for years. Early on, while he was at The Eveleigh, he often made the rum-based Hotel Nacional, which dates back to the 1930s. While other bartenders were using apricot liqueur that has added sugar, Kupchinsky started using apricot EDV after finding a recipe in “The Gentleman’s Companion”, which called for dry apricot brandy, meaning unsweetened. Since then, he has done a mezcal riff on the drink, including the standard pineapple and lime juices, but tweaking the EDV by using a mango version.
Kupchinsky has continued experimenting with this brandy style over the years. His current Negroni twist, the Funkhouser, uses mango EDV along with rum, Campari, and sweet vermouth. “This is a great way to make a fruit-forward Negroni without adding any additional sweetness to the drink,” he notes. In his experience, the fruit flavor in an EDV truly shines “if there is a touch of sweetness coming from another component of the drink,” such as the Negroni’s Campari.
Both Robinson and Burlsen share Kupchinsky’s enthusiasm for the style. Burlsen waxes poetic about Clear Creek Distillery's Pear Brandy, saying that it “feels like being inside a pear’s whisper.” She loves using it to modify a martini, but she also let’s some flavors shine on their own as long drinks with just a bit of soda or tonic. Currently, she’s loving guava EDV with sparkling coconut water or in a Paloma.
Both Kupchinsky and Burlsen agree that the easiest way to make EDV approachable is to simply list them plainly in the ingredients of a drink on the menu. “Poire William” sounds daunting, but pear brandy is something customers will immediately understand.
One category that has been overlooked for decades is American brandy. Highly popular in colonial times, the spirit was overshadowed when Americans fell in love with whiskey; later, Prohibition almost destroyed the industry. Today, there is a brandy renaissance in the States with an emphasis on terroir. Distillers from California to Kentucky to Michigan are producing local evocations. And, in Wisconsin, brandy has never gone out of style, thanks to the Wisconsin Old Fashioned, a brandy-based version of the classic cocktail. In fact, unless you specify otherwise, your Old Fashioned will always be made with brandy in the state. To put this passion in perspective, American-made Korbel brandy enjoyed more than 60% of its 2024 sales (about 134,000 cases) thanks to brandy sales in Wisconsin alone.
Whether it’s an aged brandy from Armenia, a spicy cognac from France, or a crystal-clear, fruit-forward EDV, using uncommon brandies makes for engaging interaction between bartender and guest.
Robinson feels that brandy plays well in every cocktail category, so the opportunity to experiment is huge. And, in doing so, not only can you offer something intriguing, but also educate your guest about something that they don’t know.
As Burleson says, “The best part about a cocktail is the conversations you have while drinking them, so give people something to talk about in the moments of silence.”
Are you registered for our Crave newsletters? Sign up today!
Plan to Attend or Participate in the 2026 Bar & Restaurant Expo, March 23-25, 2026, Las Vegas, Nevada. Register now!
To book your sponsorship or exhibit space at our events, fill out our form.
Also, be sure to follow Bar & Restaurant on Facebook and Instagram for all the latest industry news and trends.