Portuguese Brandy aka Aguardente

[fussychicken]

Learned a little bit about this while in Lisbon recently and quite liked it!! The two that I sampled had a great taste and a wonderful nose although the finishes were a bit short. And on top of that, it was CHEAP. Kinda like the bourbon of Portugal.

In any case, I figured there would plenty of info about this on the internet, and boy was I wrong! This is very hard to find in the US. When I realized this, I stuffed my bag with two bottles on the way home. Got a 17 year bottle for $50, and a pretty dark but unlisted age bottle for $20.

I've since found one store in Lisbon that has a website that claims they ship, but I have no idea how much it would be to the US. (might negate the cost advantage) In either case, they have a very comprehensive website which lists everything I saw during my stay: https://www.garrafeiranacional.com/en_en/maxshop/categoria/101/old-firewaters-portuguese/1/3/1/2/

It seems like the cheaper un-aged ones are a little sketchy. However once you get above 10 euro or so, it appears that you get into true grape distilled, barrel aged brandies.

Anyone know any more about these Portuguese Brandy's? Or as they call it in Portugal, Aguardente?