Discovery is everything. - Makro

08
OUDE MOLEN
It’s time to rethink brandy
At Oude Molen in the Elgin valley, special things are happening in giant pot
stills that will change your impression of brandy forever.
Brandy isn’t sexy. It’s what you drink in the
parking lot before the rugby game, or as a last
round at your friend’s wedding. Only guys
drink brandy; it causes fi ghts. If you drink
it neat you’ve probably drunk too much
already. And then there’s cognac. Now there’s
a discerning drink; something to be savoured,
swilled in a big balloon glass, tilted to the light
and admired. You’re probably sitting deep in
a leather armchair and wearing a suit when
you drink cognac. An expensive suit. Or a
cocktail dress. Because cognac is sexy.
Sound familiar? Th is stereotype has
plagued the image of brandy in South Africa
August 2012
for decades, yet it couldn’t be further from
the truth. Both spirits are produced using the
same method and the same base ingredient
– the humble grape; the French-oak barrels
used for aging the drink are the same, and so
is the maturation time. At the heart of it, the
only diff erence between brandy and cognac
is a French copyright law prohibiting cognac
made outside the Cognac region from
bearing the name.
All this doesn’t concern the folks at Oude
Molen, who have made it their mission
to change the way brandy is perceived.
In fact, given the chance to use the term