Cognac’s cocktail comeback
Metropolitan
I prefer grape-based spirits to grain-based. Back in the 19th century, so did many American drinkers, until a late century Phylloxera outbreak wiped out much of France’s grapes and essentially cut off the flow of wine, brandy and cognac. That’s when drinkers in the U.S. had to turn to domestic spirits like whiskey and bourbon in their tipples. It’s time to go back to cognac.
Cognac is basically blended brandy aged in French oak — its flavor rich and complex, with a deep bouquet, that retains lively fruit notes and loads of vanilla, caramel and even coconut. It was originally made for export and transported in oak barrels to Holland, and later, the U.S.
These days, bartenders love to mix cocktails with cognac as the base spirit. Many bars, like Vol. 39 in Chicago’s Gray Hotel, serve cognac Old-Fashioneds in addition to whiskey-based ones, perhaps as a nod to Wisconsin’s unofficial state drink, the brandy OldFashioned, but more likely to show off the elegant spirit.
“While cognac is a beautiful year-round spirit, there is something essentially autumnal about it and other aged fruit brandies,” says Seth Sempere, a bartender at Zig Zag in Seattle. “They have depth and heft but are also sprightly and playful.” He created a drink called the Midnight Society, which includes cognac, gin, amaro, aromatized cider and a dash of bitters. “I wanted to make a cocktail that captures the aromas of the season: wood smoke, resinous pine, sweet apples, the earthy pungency of kicking through fallen leaves.”
At Chicago’s Violet
Hour, Abe Vucekovich created the “It’s not you,” with cognac, saffron-flavored liqueur, lemon, fresh ginger, toasted coconut and Angostura bitters. A riff on the classic cognac sidecar, it’s served up, and the addition of saffron makes it glow from within. Revival Cafe Bar in the downtown Chicago food hall of the same name, features the Marquette cocktail, a New York sour riff using cognac as the base, plus saffron amaro, lemon juice, a house cherry/ginger cordial and a float of dry lambrusco. The result is a tart, effervescent and very pretty cocktail.
“We like working with cognac because the neutral oak aging and grape base allow for a leaner, more nuanced flavor profile when compared to other aged spirits made from grain and matured in charred barrels,” says Mark Phelan, bar manager.
You don’t need a $150 bottle of XO cognac to make a fantastic drink. Pick up a bottle of VS or VSOP cognac, or something like the Pierre Ferrand 1840 or Hardy Legend 1863, any of which are delightful (and decadent) in cocktails. Then mix up a Metropolitan, the grape lover’s Manhattan.