Fruit brandy

Fruit brandy is a distilled beverage produced from mash, juice, wine or residues of culinary 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, peaches, apricots, plums and blackberries are the most commonly used fruits.

Description

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, or from standard grape, citrus, or other fruit wine, with or without the addition of not more than 20 percent by weight of the pomace of such juice or wine, or 30 percent by volume of the lees of such wine, or both."

In British usage, "fruit brandy" may also refer to liqueurs obtained by maceration of whole fruits, juice or flavoring in a distilled beverage, for example cherry brandy. Such beverages are used as desserts and as an ingredient in cocktails and cakes. Fruit brandies obtained by distillation are referred by the French term eau de vie.