The Time is ripe – for Cognac, Brandy & Co.
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Peter Eichhorn thinks it is high time for aged grape distillates like brandy, Armagnac and cognac to make a comeback.
The long-standing derived from grapes are still being forced to wait in the shadows, while gin, whiskey and rum frolic in the spotlight. But think of the cocktails that await us – magnificent and timeless classics: Brandy Crusta, Sidecar, Between the Sheets, Champagne Cocktail and Brandy Alexander. Each and every one of them shows just how versatile brandy can be in collaboration with other ingredients. And cocktails like the Manhattan, Old Fashioned, Horse’s Neck and Sazerac all offer the option of using our wine distillate as the basic spirit. In fact, some cocktail historians believe that when these drinks were first invented, they were made with brandy.
Catastrophe in Europe
Yet crises – even catastrophes – have always been a part of the history of brandy. In Great Britain in the 19th century, for example, a Brandy Soda had only just established itself as an on-trend drink for the middle class when the ‘phylloxera plague’ struck Europe – a catastrophe that destroyed nearly all of the vineyards for wine grapes on the continent. Wine and grape distillates became rare – and expensive – and the English were forced to turn to Scotch Whisky, a beverage that did not enjoy a particularly favourable reputation in England’s better circles at the time. It was only through grafting with resistant grape varieties that the Europeans were able to get their viniculture back on track again.
Prohibition in the USA
In North America, too, drinking habits were changing. Through the port of New Orleans, cognac had gained access to the gigantic French colony that strengthened from Louisiana to Canada, and here too, as French products became scarce, local distillates derived from rye and corn began to spread and gain in popularly. Today’s Thomas H. Handy Rye Whiskey brand commemorates the man who is said to have been the first person to make the Sazerac cocktail using rye whiskey instead of cognac. Ten years ago, the well-known Pierre Ferrand cognac distillery made waves with its Pierre Ferrand Cognac 1840. The result of a plan to recreate a cognac taste from 1840, this captivating product offers excellent mixability.
While the history of brandy production in what is now the USA stretches back to 1769, when Spanish missionaries distilled their own brandy in California, here too, the Prohibition era from 1919 to 1933 brought not only smuggling, speakeasies and organised crime, but also a break with the past and a new beginning.
Disharmony in the world of cognac
Recent years have not always been kind to the makers of cognac. Around the turn of the millennium, cognac experienced a crisis as sales collapsed. The region was in turmoil, because numerous distilleries had cancelled their orders to winegrowers, a move that brought them out onto the barricades. Southwestern France saw roads blocked, and rubbish and tyres set alight.
It is a curious fact that music culture introduced cognac to an entirely new target group at the start of the millennium. In 2001, the rappers Busta Rhymes and P. Diddy released the song ‘Pass the Courvoisier’. North America’s rap and hip-hop scenes saw this as a call to rethink their choice of beverages, and they commemorated the process in song. More than one hundred rap songs were to follow, immortalising terms like ‘Henny’, ‘Remi’, ‘nyak’ and ‘yak’. They were referring to Hennessy, Remy Martin and cognac. In ‘Humpty Dance’, Digital Underground announced that: “I drink up all the Hennessey ya got on ya shelf. So just let me introduce myself.” Coolio sings: “Rollin’ with my homies sippin’ we yak all night.” Wycleaf Jean wooed the ladies with: “Pussycat, lay back, take a sip of this yak, feel me on this track”, while the cognac brand Landy hired Snoop Dogg to promote their company with: “Cognac is the drink that’s drunk by G’s.”
In other words, cognac enjoyed a real boom in the USA, whereas new anti-corruption laws in its second-most important market, China, resulted in a significant decline in the country's generous cognac consumption. Even so, 2022 witnessed a return to high sales figures from the ‘Middle Kingdom’.
And when things go well?
Recent years have not always been good to brandy in Germany, either. The staid and stuffy aura of the post-World War Two era is not popular with today’s drinks influencers. Idiotic rituals like heating glasses were society staples during that time of the German economic miracle, but thankfully this has largely disappeared from the hospitality trade today. In the new millennium, the Asbach brand at least has managed to establish close ties with the bar scene. In particular, the older age classifications have proven successful, and the ‘Big Buck’ with Cointreau, lemon and ginger beer have taken the bar scene by storm.
Today, the eyes of the German drinks sector are on Jacobi, a traditional distillery in the Stuttgart region. And since 2020, this distillery has been closely linked with Alexander Stein, a name that is well known in the world of beverages as the brain behind Monkey 47 Gin. Following the sale of that brand, the entrepreneur has turned his attention to a brand that was shaped by his father and grandfather, drawing on the family’s grape tradition. When a clever mind and bold business professional is working to promote the renaissance of brandy, it is good news for brandy culture in Germany.
Today more than ever, it is worth taking a much closer look at the world of brandy
Spanish brands affiliated with Carlos I. and Osborne have already done a great deal to demonstrate just how well their products work in cocktails and in food pairing. Countries including Georgia, Armenia and Moldova can look back on a long history of brandy, as can Italy and Greece. And once we start including products for which barrel ageing plays a more subordinate role, like grappa, pomace, and pisco, we are talking about a gigantic cornucopia of satisfaction.
So what are we waiting for? Pass the wine distillates! Pure, mixed, or as an inspiring source of warmth. As Heinz Erhardt once said, tongue in cheek: “The warmest jacket is a ‘cognacket’.”
