Купить подарок мужчине – дело непростое, особенно if you do not know the habits and preferences of man. In this case, it is appropriate to give cognac. But the choice of drink will have to be taken very seriously. The choice of 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 smallA store near the station or on the market square does not sell good brandy. For a serious purchase should go to the company store. Ideally, this should be a specialized retail outlet where people who drink do not rush in search of a cheap bottle of vodka.
Although no, the ideal purchase can be made by traveling to France, in areas where branded cognacs are produced. But there are other options.
Purchase price
A bottle of brandy as a gift for a man can notbe cheap. Good brandies, in principle, are not cheap. It's all about the technology and traditions of production. To put on the market 1 l of brandy or brandy, the manufacturer needs to use 10 liters of grape wine, and spend several years of precious time. All this is very expensive.
Cheap alcoholic beverages can be infused.on oak sawdust, instead of aging in barrels. They can also be produced from a mixture of grape and grain alcohol. All this affects the quality, although it significantly reduces the cost of production. Buying such drinks as a gift is not worth it.
The most dangerous option is to buy cheap falsification. In this case, you not only wasted your money, but you can also cause irreparable damage to your health.
How to distinguish counterfeit
As you wonder what brandy to buy as a gift to a man, pay attention to the little things:
- Consider the cork, it can be from corkwood, special silicone material or compacted sawdust. If the bottle is closed with a metal screw cap, then this is a low-quality product or counterfeit.
- Consider the casing shell. It should tightly cover the neck of the bottle, never grimacing anywhere.
- The bottle itself can only be glass. Strong alcohol reacts with plastic, releasing harmful substances.
- Consider the label. It should be glued perfectly evenly, without offsets.
- Examine the label. It contains complete information on the composition, production date and manufacturer. And all this should be written without errors.
- See how the excise stamp is attached. It is always located on top of the label.
- Turn the bottle over. A good cognac will leave a mark on the walls, and several heavy drops will fall from the bottom.
- The color of the drink in the bottle can vary from light brown to dark brown, but the contents always remain transparent.
Если вы собрались сделать подарок мужчине на день birthday, cognac is better to choose in the curly bottle. Complicating the production of packaging, the manufacturer is reinsured from counterfeit. It is much easier to pour counterfeit in ordinary bottles than to order a special batch of containers.
The origin of the drink
Imagine you are standing in front of the counter atstore and want to choose a good cognac as a gift to the man. But there are so many bottles that the eyes simply run away. Here you will need information about the origin of the drink. In fact, cognacs have the right to call only those drinks that are produced in France. In this country, the production of alcohol is treated with great respect. In addition to the fact that quality is strictly controlled by the state, well-known trademarks compete with each other and maintain their own reputation.
Drinks made in Armenia, Georgia,Moldova, Ukraine, Russia - this is grape brandy. Among them are also worthy options, but you need to carefully read the information on the labels. Of these options, Armenian and Georgian spirits are most often chosen. Cognacs (brandy) from these countries are worthy of attention of connoisseurs. Some even believe that Armenian brandies are not worse, for example, than Courvoisier VSOP. But in this question everyone has their own taste.
Deciding on the brand
Good cognac as a gift to a man is desirablebuy from reputable manufacturers. Such a gift will be appreciated. The leaders in this growth are: Hennessy, Rémy Martin, Courvoisier, Martell, Bisquit, Camus, Augier and Delamain.
Если есть желание выбрать подарок армянского или Georgian producer, you will not be ashamed of a bottle of Ani, Noah, Ararat, Egrisi, Armazi. These refined aged drinks will not disappoint the hero of the occasion or business partner.
Official classification excerpts: France
The price of brandy is directly dependent on the extract of the drink. Excerpt called insistence in barrels of grape alcohol. The time that the drink stood in the bottle after bottling is no longer taken into account.
French brandies have their own classification of excerpts. On the front label put mysterious letters, which are deciphered as follows:
- V.S. - cognacs aged in barrels for at least 2 years.
- Superior - 3 years of aging.
- V.S.O.P. - 4 years in an oak barrel.
- V.V.S.O.P. - the drink has matured for at least 5 years.
- X.O. - excerpt beverage from 6 years and above.
Thus, if you have a bottle of Courvosier VSOP in your hands, it means that you bought brandy that has been aged in an oak barrel for 4 years.
If the manufacturer reaches a special taste by blending, the age of brandy will be considered according to the youngest alcohol.
As labeled "Soviet brandy"
In the post-Soviet space was adopted its ownclassification of brandies. By the way, manufacturers, despite everything, stubbornly use the word "brandy" on the labels. This alcoholic beverage was produced in three types: ordinary, vintage and collection. Ordinary brandy is assigned an asterisk (each asterisk is a year of aging).
The classification of vintage cognacs is more complicated:
- KV (aged cognac) - holding time 6-7 years.
- KVVK (top quality aged cognac) - the age of the drink is 8-9 years.
- KS (old cognac) - aged 10 years.
- OS (very old) - drink over 12 years old.
For collection cognacs, the aging period was set at 23 years or more.
How to make a gift
And the last question: “How is it unusual for a man to pack a bottle of brandy as a gift?” And do I need to pack it at all?
It all depends on your taste.Good brandy itself has a presentable appearance. It can be put in a narrow gift bag and that 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 the quality, but because of the packaging.
If you give a gift to a good friend and want to play a trick, you can glue together a box of high-quality cardboard, for example, in the form of a milk package, and sign that there is milk.
If you choose a good brandy as a gifta man for a significant date or for a special occasion, you can make a seal from wax, by writing on it, after how many years you can open your gift, and wind the seal to the neck with a stern thread.