Fruit brandies de John Spottiswood

While other brandies are distilled from fruit juice, fruit brandies are distilled from the entire fruit--skins, pits, and all. They're usually colorless, and fairly high in alcohol. Varieties include apricot brandy, plum brandy, kirschwasser (cherries), framboise (raspberries), fraise (strawberries), grappa (grapes), pisco (Muscatel grapes), mure (blackberries), and myrtille (bilberries). Don't confuse fruit brandies with the cheaper and cloyingly sweet fruit-flavored brandies.