 lambic
brandy is a type of brandy which is hand-distilled in a small potstill
which is called an alambic still. (Both the words "alcohol" and
"alambic" are Arabic words, pre-Moslem, of course. The still
was probably invented by the ancient alchemists who were on their quest
for "making gold.") Alambic brandies, small batch brandies, are
usually regarded as the potentially finest brandies made. Alambic brandies
are distinguished from "just" brandies, which may be produced
in larger commercial stills. The brandies of Germain-Robin are all alambic
brandies. Many are made from the Columbard grape which was the standard
of Cognac in the 19th Century. Germain-Robin brandies are also produced
from other varietals such as pinot noir, gamay and sauvignon blanc.
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ognac.
True Cognac (with a capital "C") must be made in Cognac; it is
a brandy and it must be double-distilled in a potstill heated by a naked
flame. The grape used: Ugni Blanc. Most markets including the US allow
cognac to go on sale when it is two years old, according to Gordon Brown
in the "Handbook of Fine Brandies." Legal minimum ages: VS/Three
Star: 2 years VSOP (Very Special Old Pale): 4 years Napoleon: 6 years XO/extra:
6 years (can go to 20) Vielle Reserve & Vieux: 6 years (generally go
from 7-40 years)
au
de vie (French for "water of life") are fruit wines which are
distilled and bottled, generally with no oak barrel ageing, and are made
in a similar fashion as grappa. Fruits which seem to lend themselves to
magnificent distillation include pear, raspberry, and plum. Like grappas,
these eaux de vies are clear, resembling gin or vodka, but are made from
pure, usually whole fruit. They are definitely not flavored--certainly
not the ones we feature at the Los Olivos Wine & Spirits Emporium!
Incidentally, a grape eau de vie is a grappa or marc.
rappa
(or marc as it is known in France) is what's left over from
the winemaking and then distilled. Basically, you take the seeds, skins,
pomace, add water and sugar, ferment and then distill. These distillations
are never bottle-aged or put into barrels. They go from still to glass,
for the most part. By and large, most Italian grappas are a bad practical
joke which Italy is playing on the United States and the rest of the world.
Most Italian grappas are to the "art" of distilling what Hamburger
Helper is to cooking! 
e
(pronounced "ooh a [long a]): Is an obscure term for a "super
grappa" that started cropping up in the 1980s. Instead of using "what's
left over" as you find in most of those traditional Italian grappas,
producers made wine from whole berries and then distilled it. If well made,
a beverage of definite superior quality. Your Bonny Doon and Mosby grappas
are really ue's because of the high proportion of juice that's used and
fermented. Since ue is not a standard of identity for labeling recognized
by the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms), it cannot be used
on a label, so domestically produced ue's have to be labeled grappas. Sad
but true.
chnapps.
Fine German schnapps are the same in concept as eau de vie. Eau de vie
is not an accepted BATF standard of identity, so those products are labeled
brandy, stupidly, in the United States. Schnapps does appear on US made
beverages, but has no relationship or bearing to true European schnapps,
so sadly, those horrid domestically produced schnapps are artificially
flavored industrial quality grain alcohol. According to Alexis Lichine's
Encyclopedia, schnapps are "a strong, dry spirit," and can include
gin. Remember domestic schnapps is sweet, and artificially flavored, the
beverage of the gutter-snipe to use a term from George Bernard Shaw. The
term should not be allowed in this country any more than some of those
"grandfathered" place-name terms like chablis, burgundy or champagne
be allowed. (Remember, on a bottle of US made wine, "chablis"
on the label is synonymous with cheap white wine; "burgundy"
is synonymous with cheap red wine.)