Expert: Paul Wagner - 7/12/2007

Question
i recently went to a wedding and asked for a brandy on the rocks. they served it with a brandy that i was unfamiliar with. the bottle said 1820 on the front label. do you have any idea what this is?

Answer
Hi Sean

Hmmmm.  This is a tough one.  There are NO American brandy producers who use this date...or any other date on their packaging.  And I've checked my data sources for Cognac, Armagnac, and Spanish Brandy as well.    

There is a really good Spanish brandy made by Larios that is called 1866, and has that date in very big numbers on the label. It wouldn't surprise me if you liked that one--but it's pretty expensive to be pouring over the rocks at a wedding.  

1820 wasn't a great year in Cognac--although it is the year that Johnny Walker started his company.  They don't make a brandy, though. And 1802 ( just in case you got the numbers switched ) was a wonderful year in Cognac--there are still a few bottles from that vintage around.  It was the time of Napoleon, but those are fabulously expensive.  And it turns out that some of them may be fakes as well.

Of course, it could be a hotel or restaurant's private label...in that case it wouldn't show up anywhere else--probably just an existing brandy with a local label on it.

I wish I could help you more on this one.  Have you tried calling the hotel?  I bet their bartender would know what they were pouring.  And when you find out, drop me a note.  I'd love to know the answer.

PAul Wagner