Fruit brandy Fruit brandy Fruit brandy or fruit spirit is a distilled beverage produced from mash, juice, wine or residues of edible fruits. The term covers a broad class of spirits produced across the world, and typically excludes beverages made from grapes, which are referred to as plain brandy (when made from distillation from wine) or pomace brandy (when made directly from grape pomace). Apples, pears, apricots, plums and cherries are the most commonly used fruits. According to a legal definition in the United States, a "fruit brandy" is distilled "solely from the fermented juice or mash of whole, sound, ripe fruit,
Armagnac (brandy) distilling spirits, but the overall volume of production is far smaller than Cognac production and therefore is less known outside Europe. In addition, it is for the most part made and sold by small producers, whereas Cognac production is dominated by big-name brands, especially Courvoisier (owned by Beam Suntory), Hennessy (LVMH), Martell (Pernod Ricard), and Rémy Martin (Rémy Cointreau). Armagnac is the oldest brandy distilled in France; and, in the past, it was consumed for its therapeutic benefits. In the 14th century, Prior Vital Du Four, a cardinal, wrote that it had 40 virtues: Between the 15th and 17th centuries,