Traditionally, flower essences are preserved with brandy - a spirit produced by distilling wine, which contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof). Alcohol is a generic a strong preservative, giving almost infinite shelf-life to the flower essence.
At Maitri Verde we believe that God is in the Detail. Instead of using traditional brandy to preserve mother essences, we use high quality cognac, adding its medicinal and vibrational properties to the potency of the flower essences.
Cognac is one of the finest drinks when it comes to your health. There is a reason it is also called “eau de vie” or “the live water.” Nearly all Cognac is made of the grape variety called Ugni Blanc (Trebbiano). Only a wine Brandy produced in Cognac region can be called Cognac and that region is one of sacred power places on Earth, which is not generally known to the public.
Cognac unlike other alcoholic drinks goes through the double distillation in the copper still pot. There is a legend surrounding the double distillation which is assumed to be the reason why double distillation is carried out: Once when King Jacques de la Croix-Maron was asleep he had a nightmare. The satan was trying to take his soul by boiling. The satan didn’t succeed with the first try so he threatened to boil again in order to capture Knight Jacques’s soul. At this point the King woke up and thought of double distilling his wine for better taste, color and to distinct his product from other wines.
Second distillation is an act of art as science, as a distiller has to decide at what moment to isolate what is known as the “heart”of the liquid, to separate it from the “head” and “tails.” The head portion is too high in alcoholcontent while the tail is lacking in substance. The remaining liquid is the clear “eau de vie.” It has been reduced by an additional one-third and is 70% alcohol by volume.
Another main thing that separates cognac from many other alcohol besides double distillation process is the aging. Distilled wine is aged from anywhere between 2 and 20 or more years, which sometimes last longer than the maker’s life itself. The distilled wine is stored in oak casks in cellars. The natural humidity level of cellars is one of the influencing factors in the aging of the spirit. During the aging process cognac loses 3%-–4% of it’s volume every year by evaporation of spirit, which is known as “the angel’s share” and it is estimated that it is equivalent to 27 million bottles per year.
We encourage you to take advantage of our "eau de view" enhanced flower essences. But if you are sensitive to alcohol, a recovering alcoholic or buy essences for children and elderly, you can search for different companies that use alternative methods of preservation such as vegetable glycerin or vinegar.
Vegetable glycerin, or glycerol, is a clear, odorless liquid produced from plant oils, typically palm oil, soy, or coconut oil. It has a number of valuable applications that include cosmetic products, foods, and as a replacement for alcohol in herbal and botanical tinctures. Vegetable glycerin is a wonderful alternative to alcohol as a preservative to use with alcohol-sensitive people, recovering alcoholics, children and animals.
Just FYI - the average shelf life of glycerine-based flower essences is about a year whereas alcohol-based is 4–6 years.