Fortifying with brandy vs. everclear?

[abefroman]

Fortifying with brandy (80 proof) vs. everclear (190 proof), what are the pros and cons?

Other than you'd have to use less than half of everclear to raise it the same amount of alcohol.

 

[robie]

Brandy will also add some smoothness, body/mouth feel.
Brandy will add taste, not just alcohol.
Everclear is alcohol, yes, but it is not derived from wine.

 

[abefroman]

Brandy will also add some smoothness, body/mouth feel.
Brandy will add taste, not just alcohol.
Everclear is alcohol, yes, but it is not derived from wine.

Thx, Brandy would add some oakyness too I'd imagine.

 

[ibglowin]

They say that grain spirits will never "marry" with the wine like brandy (grape spirits) will. I used brandy in my last port and was very happy with the marriage!

 

[shoebiedoo]

Fortifying with brandy (80 proof) vs. everclear (190 proof), what are the pros and cons?

Other than you'd have to use less than half of everclear to raise it the same amount of alcohol.

BUT!! Depending on how much you you want to boost your alcohol, you will not need nearly as much everclear as you wooud Brandy therefore keeping most of your original Grape/wine flavor. Not to mention cost.

 

[ibglowin]

Everclear has its own unique "flavor". Best thing to do is try a bench trial with it before hand and see if its something you can tolerate. Brandy will make a difference in the color of the finished port wine. It will be slightly lighter in color. I did a tannin boost and oak boost on mine and it took it and laughed at me (that all you got!) Turned out fantastic with brandy and the extra tweaks. YMMV as they say.

 

[tonyandkory]

MMMMMM EVERCLEAR!!!!!!
That reminds me of this funny story.
When I was in high school we had a party which we spent two days cutting and juicing fruit into a 50 gallon barrel and adding I don't know how many bottles of Everclear to make jungle juice.
So when the party started we all started drinking and having a great time and after 3-4 glasses .. . . . . . . . .. . ... .. . . . . . . .... ... . . ...

 

[robie]

I believe that in Protugal, where they make lots and lots of good port, they predominantly use clear brandy. They could likely save money using everclear, but they don't. Just my opinion, but that is good enough for me.

 

[JohnT]

Use brandy.

Everclear offers nothing (other then the "burn" taste of alcohol) in the way of flavor. Brandy adds a certain flavor element that some consider a major component in classical port. Sure it's more expensive, but well worth it!

 

[joeswine]

Evercleer or brandy

There's some very good replies up there...evercleer ,not for enhancing wine good for cellos and the like,(correct statement), not the wine flavor your looking for,i'm not sure about brandy either,good for port but not the right ingredient for wine if your goal is to add more alcohol to a volume of wine,that should be adjusted in the beginning.i have personally used both and niether will work to the desired end well...just my view

 

[GreginND]

Commercially the brandy used to fortify port is much higher proof than the brandy you buy at the store. If you use 40% brandy you need to dilute your wine a lot with it to get the alcohol content up. Everclear requires a lot less volume and you preserve more of the wine flavor.

 

[seth8530]

Im also along the line of thought that everclear might be Superior because the dilution of your original flavor profile is half that of brandy.

 

[ibglowin]

Do a bench trial first with whatever you decide to use especially if using grain spirits. Some who have used grain sprits have been unhappy with the results and reported that even after a year in the bottle the port was still harsh. I used brandy myself and that stuff is smooth as silk on the palette.

 

[Deezil]

Assuming the aim here is a Port:

I would use brandy & compensate for the difference between that an everclear/grain spirits, by using a higher ABV tolerant yeast...

Instead of fortifying a 12-13% wine with everclear to 19-20%, i'd rather fortify a 15-16% wine with brandy.. Granted you could take that 15-16% wine and fortify it with grain spirits, to use even less, if thats your style..

Brandy brings more to the table, in my eyes - its grape-on-grape, some oak, some alcohol - im all for the lesser amount of ingredients that bring more facets to the wine, Joe (joeswine) calls them layers

 

[BobF]

The brandy used to fortify a real port is 'grapa', as different from the brandy at your local package store as the brandy from your local package store is from everclear. IIRC, 'grapa' is distilled from the same grape base as the port it's being used to fortify.

Nothing says you can't use both ...

I've used everclear to fortify a low sugar grape wine with good success. But I only added enough to raise the ABV 1 or 2%.

 

[ibglowin]

Brandy = ~$12 a bottle (~40% ABV)

Grappa = ~$50 a bottle (~40% ABV)

I needed 6 bottles of brandy to fortify 6 gallons of port wine. That took it from ~15% to ~19% ABV.

Grappa was not a viable option cost wise for me!

 

[BobF]

It wouldn't be for me either. My point was simply that we make choices along the way and that regular brandy was also one of the choices that lead one away from 'authenticity'

I agree with the post suggesting some small sample trials with the various options before making a decision.

 

[JohnT]

This is why good port is so expensive.

 

[ibglowin]

I think the fact that a good commercial port has also been aged 10-20 years has something to do with it as well.

 

[JohnT]

I think the fact that a good commercial port has also been aged 10-20 years has something to do with it as well.

This, also, is true.