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.

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 rum 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 available to mature other spirits is generally low. However, due to the strong links between France and rum production, they do tend to be more common in rum than spirits like whisky, for example. Distillers in French overseas regions like Martinique, Guadeloupe and Réunion make notable use of French oak ex-brandy casks, as does the Plantation brand which uses its own casks from parent company and cognac producer, Maison Ferrand. Brandy casks are less common in the rest of the rum producing world, however notable distillers such as Foursquare and the House of Angostura have all successfully experimented with cognac cask ageing.