c languages of northern Europe, meaning a thing
burning or that has been burnt. John Fletcher's _Beggar's Bush_ (1622)
contains the passage, "Buy brand wine"; and from the Roxburgh _Ballads_
(1650) we have "It is more fine than brandewine." The word "brandy" came
into familiar use about the middle of the 17th century, but the
expression "brandywine" was retained in legal documents until 1702
(Fairley). Thus in 1697 (_View Penal Laws_, 173) there occurs the
sentence, "No aqua vitae or brandywine shall be imported into England."
The _British Pharmacopoeia_ formerly defined French brandy, which was
the only variety mentioned (officially _spiritus vini gallici_), as
"Spirit distilled from French wine; it has a characteristic flavour, and
a light sherry colour derived from the cask in which it has been kept."
In the latest edition the Latin title _spiritus vini gallici_ is
retained, but the word _French_ is dropped from the text, which now
reads as follows: "A spirituous liquid distilled from wine and matured
by age, and containing not less than 36-1/2% by weight or 43-1/2% by
volume of ethyl hydroxide." The _United States Pharmacopoeia_ (1905),
retains the Latin expression _spiritus vini gallici_ (English title
_Brandy_), defined as "an alcoholic liquid obtained by the distillation
of the fermented, unmodified juice of fresh grapes."

Very little of the brandy of commerce corresponds exactly to the former
definition of the _British Pharmacopoeia_ as regards colouring matter,
inasmuch as trade requirements necessitate the addition of a small
quantity of caramel (burnt sugar) colouring to the spirit in the
majority of cases. The object of this is, as a rule, not that of
deceiving the consumer as to the apparent age of the brandy, but that of
keeping a standard article of commerce at a standard level of colour. It
is practically impossible to do this without having recourse to caramel
colouring, as, practically speaking, the contents of any cask will
always differ slightly, and often very appreciably, in colour intensity
from the contents of another cask, even though the age and quality of
the spirits are identical.

The finest brandies are produced in a district covering an area of
rather less than three million acres, situated in the departments of
Charente and Charente Inferieure, of which the centre is the town of
Cognac. It is generally held that only brandies produced within this
district have a right to the name "cogna