Until the beginning of the 17th century, the distillation of Cognac consisted of only one heating to obtain the brouillis, a liquid that was drunk with aromatic plants. It was the Dutch who first used the stills before the French improved their technique. Then came the double distillation.
Legend has it that this process was invented by the Knight of the Maron Cross, Lord of Segonzac. A very pious man and some poet, who had a dream that Satan was trying to steal his soul by boiling it and saw himself in a dream in the cauldron of the Evil One. His faith being so deep that the Knight's soul resisted a first "cooking". The Evil One, in order to achieve his ends, was obliged to subject it to a second "cooking". When he woke up, the Knight had the idea of extracting the soul from the eau-de-vie with a second distillation.
Thus, in the Cognac region, this legend about the origin of the discovery of the double distillation of Cognac eaux-de-vie has been perpetuated.
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