Brandy

Brandy is a category of alcoholic spirits produced by distilling wine and the English name is derived from the Dutch term brandewijn, a contraction of gebrande wijn which translates to "burned wine." Brandies are produced all over the world, however the most famous of these are the sub-categories of cognac, armagnac and calvados from France, grappa from Italy and pisco from South America.

Like many whiskies, by law cognac is required to be aged in oak barrels, specifically French oak. This makes cognac wood by far the most common ex-brandy cask used by whisky distillers for maturation as other brandies such as grappa and armagnac do not necessarily require cask ageing, or in the case of pisco, are never aged at all. When used, brandy casks tend to be very large and can range from 300 to 400 litres in capacity.

Because the cognac industry refills its casks, even preferring heavily used wood for long-term ageing, the number of cognac barrels in whisky maturation is low. However, their use alongside other ex-brandy casks has increased over the course of the 21st century as distillers have adopted greater experimentation in their practices. Producers in whisky-making countries like Ireland and elsewhere in European Union, where the use of specifically oak casks is not a legal requirement, have much greater freedom in this area. Apple brandies such as calvados were previously outlawed for the ageing of Scotch, however were permitted by the Scotch Whisky Association for the first time in 2019.