The term "brandy" used without any limitation is applied exclusively to the product of the distillation of wine in a pot still. If a fermented juice of any other fruit than the grape be employed in the making of a distillate of this kind, the name of the particular fruit is to be used in conjunction with the term brandy. For instance, if hard cider is distilled, the term "apple brandy" is used; if a fermented juice of the peach is distilled, the term "peach brandy" is used; if fermented cherry juice is distilled, the term is "cherry brandy;" or if the blackberry, blackberry brandy, and so on.

It is fair to presume that brandy was the first form of distilled spirit known, since the method of converting starch into sugar was not known at the time of the discovery of distillation. Brandy, therefore, ought to be regarded as a type of all distilled beverages, having ethyl alcohol as the principal constituent.