Brandy as crêpe Suzette and cherries jubilee while serving. Brandy is traditionally poured over Christmas pudding and set alight. The flames consume most of the alcohol but the pudding is left with a distinctive flavour. The term "brandy" is a shortening of "brandywine", which was derived from the Dutch word "brandewijn", itself derived from "gebrande wijn", which literally means "burned wine". In the general colloquial usage of the term, brandy may also be made from pomace and from fermented fruit other than grapes. If a beverage comes from a particular fruit (or multiple fruits) other than exclusively grapes, or from the
Sawdust brandy diluted to drinking strength) produced in this method has no additional risks compared to brandy produced from grain; it actually contains fewer fusel oils than traditional distilling methods involving spirits from grain or fruit. In spite of this, German law governing spirit production (overseen by the ") forbids the use of sawdust brandy in the production of alcoholic beverages. This ban stems from the purpose of the law as an agricultural subsidy, rather than out of public health concerns. Prior to modern, synthetic production methods, wood was also once commonly destructively distilled or dry distilled for the production of methanol