Ararat (brandy)

Ararat (stylized as ArArAt) is a brand of Armenian brandy produced 10 years before the Yerevan Brandy Company was established (1877). It is made from white grapes and spring water, according to a traditional method. The brand's "ordinary brandies" are aged between 3 and 6 years. Its "aged brandies" are between 10 and 30 years old. Ararat brandy is primarily sold in countries of the former USSR, chief among them Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus. In the Russian-speaking countries of the former Soviet Union, the Armenian brandy is marketed as cognac (Russian: армянский коньяк, romanized: armjanskij konjak). A widely spread story exists about the brandy by Russian company "Choustov and sons" winning the Grand Prix award at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900 that allowed Ararat to legally call their brandy "cognac" until it was revoked after WWII. However, this story is regarded as untruthful by some sources and "Choustov" appears on the list of Paris Grand Prix winners under section «Sirops et liqueurs; spiritueux divers; alcools d’industrie» and not «Vins et eaux-de-vie de vin», where cognacs were presented. In any case, the term "brandy" has never really caught on in the region.