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Three months ago I received my first Hand Made cognac, aged in my own 10 liter oak barrel. Since I poured alcohol diluted to 65 degrees of alcohol into the barrel, I got 14 liters of cognac with a strength of 45 degrees. Are you jealous?
There was even a problem – the lack of glassware for bottling cognac, because it cannot be stored in plastic.
The story was shared by blog subscriber Cyril.
How did the idea of different blends come about?
I tried my cognac and realized that it definitely turned out no worse than Courvoisier (Courvoisier) VSOP. I always have Courvoisier of all sorts in my bar, Remy Martin and Hennessy.
Own cognac turned out better than all these brands, except for Courvoisier XO (price from 12 rubles). The invited experts told me the same thing.
But the experts also made comments that concerned the bouquet. According to them, the French add flavors of caramel, prunes and even cloves to their cognacs.
Therefore, I decided to make several varieties of cognac:
- from different distillates;
- different blend.
To begin with, I added the taste of prunes infused with pure alcohol to my first cognac, so that only the taste of berries got into the cognac.
Prune tincture
Another remark of experts concerned the incompleteness of the bouquet of the cognac itself. I added a few drops of “tails” to cognac – the liquid that remains after distillation of the bulk of the distillate and is usually poured out.
The fact is that the tails contain aromatic oils, which are not enough in cognac made from pure alcohol.
Experiments have begun, and now I can definitely say that different people like different blends of cognac.
Blend ingredients
Both prunes and caramel are added to French cognacs. Therefore, in my cognacs, when blending, I began to make various additives:
- tincture of alcohol on prunes;
- tincture of cloves;
- caramel made from sugar. Caramel is mainly used to give a darker color to cognac. In barrels, it turns out to be quite dark anyway, but when blended, the alcohols are diluted to 40 degrees and the color of the cognac becomes too light.
Caramel
It is impossible to “overdo it” with such additives. After all, oak should give the main taste to cognac. Therefore, all tinctures are added exclusively up to 10 ml per 0,7 liter bottle. In addition to the characteristic aroma, caramel will also give cognac an overly sweet aftertaste if it is drunk too much.
Ingredients for the cognac itself, which we will infuse
If you plan to get the desired bouquet only after insisting in a barrel, then this is too simple. You will get a simple and even flat aftertaste: what you add is what you get. Added prunes and cloves, the product will have prunes and cloves.
However, real cognac has a very rich bouquet of flavors. After all, it is made from grape distillate, and not from sugar mash. And it also takes dozens of barely noticeable nuances from an oak barrel. And the usual tincture of prunes will lead to the fact that the taste of cognac will remain too simple.
My kegs
Therefore, already at the stage of distillation, I began to try to drive not only from sugar, but also from wine. I bought 4 barrels of various capacities from 5 to 10 liters and started pouring different distillates into them:
- 5-liter: distillate 65 degrees – a mixture of 30% dry white wine Sauvignon, 30% dry red wine Merlot and 40% alcohol;
- 10-liter: a mixture of distillates from dry red and white wine in half;
- 10-litre: a mixture of dry red and white wine distillates and 10% of the red wine itself;
- 10-litre: a full barrel of Saperavi dry white wine distillate.
Result
In September I had a cognac tasting. Some of them, which were in old barrels, are not yet ready, but according to taste, including intermediate distillates, the places were distributed as follows:
- 6 months aging of the second filling in a 5-liter barrel: dry wine distillates plus alcohol;
- 3 months of aging in a new barrel, a mixture of white and red wine distillates.
The remaining distillates are not yet ready either in terms of timing or taste.
Next, I made 3 different blends:
- Dilution of the first barrel to 45 degrees, adding 10 ml of prune tincture and 5 drops of “tails” per 0,7 l bottle.
- Dilution of the first barrel to 40 degrees with the addition of prunes and caramel;
- Dilution of the second barrel to 45 degrees with the addition of tails and prunes.
Experts rated the first blend as the best and even ordered several bottles. I liked the third blend more, and my wife liked the second one, which I made specially “feminine”, that is, fewer degrees and a little sweeter.
In 1-2 months, two more kegs will be ready, and I will again fill the distillate into the drained container. Only, it seems, I will now make it exclusively on dry white wine.
Have you tried Hand Made cognac and what is your attitude towards it? Write.