Fortifying with Brandy questions....?????

[countgen]

Good morning! Me and the wife started five gallons of pear wine tonight. Our plan is to to separate it into five one gallon carboys after the primary so that we can fortify/infuse each one with different things. In one of the gallons, my wife would like to fortify it with a Brandy.
Since neither me or my wife are "Brandy People", does anyone have a good suggestion for a brand of brandy to use? Or, in your opinion, does it really matter since it is being mixed with a gallon of pear wine?
I know it is probably to taste, but does anyone who has fortified with brandy before have a good idea how much to put into a gallon of wine?
Thanks for any suggestions!!!

And if you've got a suggestion for what to add to the other four gallons, I'm all ears!!! We're thinking about blueberries, cherries, honey, brandy and maybe one of them with actual pear fruit but we're not set on anything so suggest away!

 

[Deezil]

Good morning! Me and the wife started five gallons of pear wine tonight. Our plan is to to separate it into five one gallon carboys after the primary so that we can fortify/infuse each one with different things. In one of the gallons, my wife would like to fortify it with a Brandy.
Since neither me or my wife are "Brandy People", does anyone have a good suggestion for a brand of brandy to use? Or, in your opinion, does it really matter since it is being mixed with a gallon of pear wine?

Mornin! Welcome to WMT.

I might suggest just leaving one of the gallons, as-is.. But that would depend on how it was made.

My personal favorite brandy.. Best bang for the buck, personally liking the flavor for consumption, as well as using with making 'Port'-style wines..

E&J VSOP; this stuff

I know it is probably to taste, but does anyone who has fortified with brandy before have a good idea how much to put into a gallon of wine?
Thanks for any suggestions!!!

You'll want to learn How to Use a Pearson Square; here's an additional example that I remembered talking about

You'll want to attempt to balance the ABV, with the flavor you'll be looking for. This will take some bench trials to get right - we dont have a write up on that (yet!) but its basically a series of small samples.. Since you're working with a gallon, say they're 10ml samples.. Then you'd add say, 1ml brandy to one, 2ml to the next, 3 or 4 ml to the next, so-on.. Then swirl and taste each, and rank them from most-liked to least-liked.. Cancel out any that you werent liked at all, and repeat the process again with those you're torn on (since its such a small sample, and only 1 gal batch), until you have just 1 of the bench trial selections left.

This will leave you with something that you like to drink, and you can figure the ABV, kind of backwards, from there.. But you'll end up with both answers - the ABV and you'll want to drink it

And if you've got a suggestion for what to add to the other four gallons, I'm all ears!!! We're thinking about blueberries, cherries, honey, brandy and maybe one of them with actual pear fruit but we're not set on anything so suggest away!

The honey is a good idea (you'll know why I think so if you read much of my Journal lol)

You might consider something like homemade vanilla or chocolate extracts, or maybe spices... Dont run into the 'spices' thing blindly, if you want to try that route, ask questions and mention particulars because they're EASY to over-do.. but with a little guidance, we can probably get you to where you want to be

Good luck with the experiments; be sure to keep us updated, as I'm sure some of us will find this interesting

 

[JohnT]

Yup, I could not agree more. E&J and the Pearson's Square.

Although the brandy is diluted by wine, the brandy does bring flavor to the table. You want a brandy that is inexpensive, but yet still drinkable in its own right. E&J fits the bill.

I make a killer port using both of these.

 

[salcoco]

add white vanilla and cinnamon extract to one gallon.

see if you can find a pear brandy or pear flavored vodka.

 

[ibglowin]

Some of this might go very well.

 

[the_rayway]

I've made a Pear Vanilla Liqueur that is SOOO good. I would go for adding either vanilla beans to one - or fortifying with a vanilla vodka/vanilla beans soaked in everclear. Yummy.

 

[vacuumpumpman]

I've made a Pear Vanilla Liqueur that is SOOO good. I would go for adding either vanilla beans to one - or fortifying with a vanilla vodka/vanilla beans soaked in everclear. Yummy.

Yes I also added vanilla beans = fantastic results !!

 

[franki1926]

Caramel flavoring would work well with pear, I get mine from the Spice Barn (online)

 

[schwiz]

Pear Calvados would be great.