Cocktails with Cognac
Cognac is a French grape brandy — twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged in oak — made only in the Charente and Charente-Maritime, around the town of Cognac, under strict AOC rules. It’s the benchmark of aged grape brandy.
ABV40%Is the AOC minimum, but 42–46% bottlings exist and carry better in a cocktail.
Substitutes for Cognac
Any aged grape brandy swaps in one for one, Spanish or Armenian included. Such a brandy keeps the oak and the amber and loses some of Cognac's polish. Armagnac also swaps one for one and is fuller and earthier. In a drink with plenty of other flavors the difference is small. Unaged or non-grape brandies, such as pisco or calvados, change the drink.
Brandy from Gascony. Most of it is distilled once in a continuous still, rather than twice in a pot still like Cognac.
Distilled from wine or other fermented fruit anywhere in the world, so the range runs from harsh and young to soft and aged. Taste the bottle before it goes into a drink.
On the label
- VS / VSOP / Napoléon / XO / Hors d’âge
- The age of the youngest eau-de-vie in the blend — VS at least 2 years, VSOP 4, Napoléon 6, XO 10 (since 2018; it was 6 before), Hors d’âge older still. Most bottles hold spirit older than the minimum.
