A good cognac is a gift to a man. How unusual to pack a bottle of brandy for a man?

To buy a present for a man is not an easy task, especially if you do not know the habits and preferences of a person. In this case it is appropriate to give cognac. But the choice of a drink will have to come very seriously. Choosing a good cognac as a gift to a man is a whole science. Do not rush to take the first bottle from the shelf. First, learn a few important rules.

Place of purchase

An adult should understand that in a small shop near a railway station or in a market square, good cognacs are not sold. For a serious purchase, you should go to the company store. Ideally, it should be a specialized outlet, where people who are not scurrying are scurrying about in search of a cheap bottle of vodka.

Although no, the ideal purchase can be done by going to France, in the areas where branded brandies are produced. But there are other options.

Purchase price

A bottle of cognac as a gift for a man can not be cheap. Good brandies in principle are not cheap. It's all about technology and production traditions. To put on the market 1 liter of cognac or brandy, the manufacturer must use 10 liters of grape wine, and spend several years of precious time. All this is very costly.

Cheap alcoholic beverages can be infused on oak sawdust, instead of aging in barrels. They can also be made from a mixture of grape and grain alcohol. All this affects the quality, although it makes products much cheaper. Buy these drinks as a gift is not worth it.

The most dangerous option - buying a cheap counterfeit. In this case, you not only in vain spent money, but also can cause irreparable damage to health.

How to distinguish falsified

Thinking about what brandy to buy as a gift to a man, pay attention to the little things:

• Consider the cork, it can be from a cork tree, a special silicone material or from compacted sawdust. If the bottle is closed with a metal screw cap, then this product is of poor quality or falsified.
• Consider the cork shell. It should tightly tighten the neck of the bottle, nowhere wincing.
• The bottle itself can only be glass. Strong alcohol reacts with plastic, releasing harmful substances.
• Look at the label. It should be glued perfectly smoothly, without displacements.
• Read the label. It has complete information on the composition, date of manufacture and manufacturer. And all this should be written without errors.
• Look at how the excise stamp is pasted. It is always located on top of the label.
• Turn the bottle over. A good cognac will leave a trace on the walls, and a few heavy drops will drop from the bottom.
• The color of the drink in the bottle can range from light brown to dark brown, but the contents always remain transparent.

If you are going to give a gift to a man for his birthday, it's better to choose cognac in a curly bottle. By complicating the production of packaging, the manufacturer is reinsured against forgery. It is much easier to pour falsification into ordinary bottles than to order a batch of special containers.

The origin of the drink

Imagine that you are standing in front of the counter in the store and want to choose a good cognac as a gift to a man. But there are so many bottles that the eyes just run away. Here you will find useful information about the origin of the drink. In fact, cognacs have the right to call only those drinks that were produced in France. In this country, alcohol is treated with great respect. In addition, that quality is strictly controlled by the state, well-known brands compete among themselves and maintain their own reputation.

Drinks produced in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia are grape brandies. Among them, too, are worthy options, but you need to carefully read the information on the labels. Of these options, most often choose Armenian and Georgian alcohol. Cognacs (brandy) from these countries are worthy of attention of connoisseurs. Some even believe that Armenian brandy cognacs are not worse, for example, than "Courvoisier VSOP". But in this matter everyone has his own taste.

Determined with the brand

A good brandy as a gift to a man is desirable to buy from well-known manufacturers. Such a gift will be appreciated. Leaders in this area are: Hennessy, Rémy Martin, Courvoisier, Martell, Bisquit, Camus, Augier and Delamain.

If you want to choose a gift from an Armenian or Georgian manufacturer, then you will not be ashamed for a bottle of Ani, Noah, Ararat, Egrisi, and Armazi. These exquisite seasoned drinks will not disappoint the culprit of the celebration or business partner.

Official classification of extracts: France

The price of cognac directly depends on the aging of the drink. Aging is called insisting in barrels of grape alcohol. The time that the drink has stood in the bottle after the spill is no longer taken into account.

French cognacs have their own classification of aging. On the front label put mysterious letters, which are deciphered as follows:

• VS - cognacs, aged in barrels for at least 2 years.
• Superior - 3 years of aging.
• VSOP - 4 years in an oak barrel.
• VVSOP - the drink has ripened for at least 5 years.
• XO - aging of the drink from 6 years and above.

Thus, if you have a bottle of "Courvoisier VSOP", then you bought a cognac, which was aged for 4 years in an oak barrel.

If the manufacturer reaches a special taste with the blending method, then the age of cognac will be considered according to the youngest alcohol.

How are labeled "Soviet cognacs"

In the post-Soviet space was adopted its own classification of cognacs. By the way, manufacturers, regardless of anything, persistently use the word "cognac" on the labels. This alcoholic beverage was produced in three types: ordinary, vintage and collection. Ordinary cognacs are awarded with asterisks (each asterisk is a year of aging).

Classification of vintage cognacs is more complicated:

• KV (cognac aged) - the time of aging is 6-7 years.
• KVVK (top quality cognac) - the age of the drink is 8-9 years.
• KS (cognac old) - aging for 10 years.
• OS (very old) - a drink older than 12 years.

For collection cognacs , the aging period was determined to be 23 years or more.

How to issue a gift

And the last question: "How unusual to pack a bottle of cognac for a man?" And whether it is necessary to pack it at all?

It all depends on your taste. A good cognac in itself has a presentable appearance. It can be put in a narrow gift bag and this will be enough. Or you can pick up cognac in a gift box to look more solid. But keep in mind, drinks in gift boxes are much more expensive not because of quality, but because of the packaging.

If you give a gift to a good acquaintance and want to play a trick, you can glue a box of quality cardboard, for example, in the form of a milk package, and sign that there is milk.

If you choose a good cognac as a gift to a man for a significant date or for a special occasion, you can make a wax seal by writing on it, after how many years you can open your gift and put the seal on the neck with a stiff thread.