Get in the spirit !

Entertaining at home need not be a nightmare. If you are fazed by the kind of drinks to serve your friends and family, you will find this booklet a great help in picking up the basics.

To start, we give you a rundown of the different kinds of liquor and liqueurs.

Whisky & Brandy
These are usually called “hard” liquors. Whisky or whiskey is a distilled spirit made from grain, rye, corn or maize. Did you know that “whisky” spelt without an “e” is only from Scotland while every other kind, regardless of where it comes from, is spelt “whiskey”? Some popular brands of blended whiskys are Chivas Regal and Ballantine, while single malts include The Glenlivet. For whiskey brands, there is the ever-popular Boubon Wild Turkey. Brandy, on the other hand, is distilled from wine made from grapes. It includes Cognacs such as Martell VSOP, Cordon Bleu and Armagnacs.

Liqueurs
A liqueur is a spirit that has been sweetened and flavoured. Although many liqueurs appear to be little more than ingredients to be used in the mixing of cocktails, many traditional liqueurs were intended to be consumed on their own. Popular brands today include Tia Maria, Kahlua (coffee flavoured) and Malibu Rum (coconut taste).

Champagne
The drink of the stars! The only drink that immediately transports you into a world of romance, sophistication, style and finesse, with but one sip! This wonderful drink is essence a sparkling wine and whereas champagne is from the Champagne region of France; sparkling wine from anywhere else is just that – sparkling wine. Famous champagnes include the houses of Champagne G.H. Mumm and Perrier-Jouet.

White Spirits
White spirits are generally rum, vodka and gin. Rum is made from sugarcane by-products, such as molasses and sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. It is produced in a variety of styles. Light rums are commonly used in mixed drinks, while golden and dark rums can be used in cooking as well as cocktails. Premium brands such as Havana Club are made to be consumed neat or on the rocks.

Although vodka is generally drunk neat in its Eastern European and Scandinavian homeland, its growth in popularity elsewhere owes much to its usefulness in cocktails and other mixed drinks, such as the Bloody Mary, the Screwdriver, the White Russian, the Gimlet, and Vodka Martini, a dry martini made with vodka instead of gin. Vodka is now one of the world’s most popular spirits due in part to the emergence of Russain brands such as Stolichnaya (made from winter wheat) and its Polish counterpart, such as Wyborowa (made from rye).

The most common style of gin is “London dry gin”, which refers not to a brand, marque or origin, but rather to a distillation process. London dry gin is a high-proof spirit, usually produced in a column still and redistilled after the botanicals are added to the base spirit. A classic London dry gin would be Beefeater gin. In North America, the best selling gin is Seagram’s extra dry gin, a very well-made gin with a very dry and smooth texture, and a pronounced juniper flavor.

Wines
The favourite tipple if the urban sophisticate, red and white wines. They are made from different type of grapes (red or green) and whilst you would need red grapes for red wines (because the colour is in the skins) it is possible to make white wines from red as well as green grapes. Some of the most common red grape varietals in red wine are Carbernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. White wine is made from green grapes, such as Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

Cognac Appreciation
An aged cognac is a sophisticated, elegant, yet powerful way to end a, meal or to toast to that special occasion. Cognac are brandies made through the double distillation of wines exclusively from the Cognac region in the west of France. It is important to remember that all cognacs are brandies, but not all brandies are cognacs. To qualify as a cognac, the brandy would have had to originate from within the six districts if the Cognac Delimited Area that is spread right across the banks of the Charente river until the Atlantic coast. The fruit coming from the two Champagne district as well as the Borderies around the town of Cognac is universally considered the best, such as those from the house of Martell, whose cognacs have a greater proportion of wine from The Borderies, giving it its distinctive floral character.

The cognacs are aged for a minimum of two years in casks of special oak to draw out special aromas, distinctive flavours and complex bouquets. Age is counted by the minimum number of years they stay in these casks because once bottled, they stop aging. Their age is usually indicated on the bottle by the following : VS (minimum two years), VSOP (minimum four years) and XO (minimum six years), although in practice, the average age of these spirits would be much older.

As after dinner drinks, cognacs are served at elite parties as rare cognacs often come at a premium. Some of the best cognacs, like Martell Cordon Bleu, are sipped neat or merely with a dash of water and ice. Others, like Martell VSOP, are well balanced and serve as excellent mixers in long drinks or classic cocktails.

Ultimately, cognac can be part of a casual or formal events, parties or wedding receptions and is to be enjoyed with great company, for it is friends and loved ones who make the occasion and the drink a great memory.