Cognac, Armagnac, Calvados, various Eau de Vie, Absinthe (have you lost your mind?) and Cointreau; that’s just for starters because you have a few dozen more names to go through on your menu. This can’t be in French! You ponder whether to ask your waiter to explain each one until finally you confidently tell your waiter “I’ll take a Bud please.” It doesn’t have to turn out like that. It’s certainly not uncommon, after having had a wonderful meal, to order a digestif along with an espresso. A wonderful combination, to be sure! Having finished your meal and since you now belong to the clean plate club, you decide on a digestif. Let me get medical science out of the way first. Understand that on of the main reasons for having a digestif is to help your digestion so just think of it a “digestive.” 

Digestifs fall into two categories: they are either spirits or liqueurs. You can’t go to your corner store and buy a bottle of digestif from France. Digestif, as a spirit (not the haunting kind) refers to the alcohol distilled from a substance that has fermented. So this could be wine, malt, or grain. Brandy, for example, is a spirit made from wine. An over-abundance and you will be seeing spirits. Brandy, by the way,  is derived from the word brandywine which is in turn derived from the Dutch word brandewijn—”burnt wine.”
So is Cognac a brandy or is it something else you might well ask. Cognac, is a type of brandy, exclusively made in the Cognac region of France. A little factoid: 163 millions bottles of Cognac were produced in  2006 (a record). If it’s a so-called “Cognac” from Antwerp or Sacramento, it’s not a Cognac “pure and simple” it’s a brandy. It’s like champagne. That little bubbly can only be bottled and called Champagne if it is made in the Champagne region of France. No way around it. Other than that it’s call Cold Duck or something equally unfortunate. Familiar “call” names for Cognac include Courvoisier, Hennessy, Martell and Rémy Martin. Those are all outstanding Cognacs that you can truly enjoy all while observing the Parisian nightlife. Let me add one name – an essential in my book – and that is Armagnac which was the first distilled spirit in France. It is made from grapes of the Armagnac region in Southwest of France (Gers, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne) and aged in oaken casks from Gascony or the Limousin regions. Popular name brands to look for include Darroze, Baron de Sigognac and Janneau. I like Armagnac and it is definitely different from its cousins in Cognac. Try both out and let me know what you think.

A word about “fruit brandies” the name makes it seem harmless enough and one conjures up images of little umbrella’s in a drink. But there was a time when slipping a bottle of “fruit brandy” to a border guard meant you could confidently step on him while crossing the border without a passport. I’ll just mention one of my favorites fruit brandies and that is Calvados. To be called Calvados (Calva – if you’re du pays, i.e., a local) it has to be made in Normandy (are you all picking up the theme here with cognacs, armaniac, champagne and now calvados: knowing where it’s made makes it authentic.) Associated with a calva is something that’s called the “trous-Normand” – the Norman hole, since we are talking about digestion this is all very appropriate. But here, I am going to switch gears for a moment because the mealtime trous Normand represents a pause in the action of stuffing one’s face. Between meal courses, diners will partake in a glassful of calvados to improve their digestion, work through any blockages, and make room for the next course. This is still observed in many homes and restaurants throughout Normandy and Brittany. It’s rather effective, I will say that much. In fact, William the Conqueror liked his calvados so much that he was eventually nicknamed William the Bastard. Imagine if you will, halfway through a Thanksgiving Dinner (somewhere around the creamed onions and sweet potatoes) your host/hostess pass around little glasses into which is poured a clear liquid. No sipping, tilt it back and thank you. It’s hard to picture that.  

Last, but not least, are the type of digestifs known as Liqueurs which comes from the Latin word liquifacere, meaning “to dissolve – as in their empire.” Liqueurs are made from sweet alcohol into which are dissolved various flavorings such as fruit, herbs, and spices. For brevity sake, here are two quite interesting French liqueurs. There are many more, of course.
Chartreuse, which was originally made by the Carthusian Monks in the mountains of France, comes in a green or yellow colored liquid. Please know that there is a difference between the two and drink responsively. Green Chartreuse, 110 proof, is a naturally green liqueur flavored with extracts from 130 plants with its coloring coming from chlorophyll. The yellow varietal is milder with a sweeter aroma and doesn’t come close to packing the same punch as the green giant.


Now a word about Absinthe, the Green Fairy. The very name Absinthe evokes mystery, darkly alluring, some say almost Satanic. Absinthe has been portrayed as addictive psychoactive drug and was the choice drink of Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine and Oscar Wilde. Allegedly thought to have “inspired” paintings by Degas and Manet, van Gogh, Toulouse Lautrec and Picasso. It was blamed for a number of evils ranging of conditions from sterility to madness, to French defeats in World War I. Although it is sometimes mistakenly called a liqueur, absinthe is not bottled with added sugar and is therefore classified as a spirit. Absinthe is unusual among spirits in that it is bottled at a very high proof then normally diluted with water when consumed. 
Even the process of making the drink was strangely ritualistic. The “French Method” prepares the absinthe by placing a sugar cube on top of a specially designed slotted spoon and then placing the spoon on the glass which has been filled with a shot of absinthe. Ice-cold water is then poured or dripped over the sugar cube so that the water is slowly and evenly displaced into the absinthe. The “Bohemian Method” is a popular alternative where a sugar cube is placed on a slotted spoon over a glass with one shot of absinthe. The difference is that the sugar is pre-soaked in alcohol, usually more absinthe, and then lit. The flaming sugar cube is then dropped into the glass lighting the absinthe. Finally, a shot glass of water is added to put out the flames.

The Green Fairy was eventually banned from Europe and the United States. But by the late 1990’s countries began to reauthorize its manufacture and the U.S. followed in 2007. Although absinthe was vilified, no evidence has shown it to be any more dangerous than ordinary spirits. Its psychoactive properties, apart from those of alcohol, have been much exaggerated. Or have they?