Hyderabad: Better the spirit, better the cocktail. This is the mantra of many a bartender and rightly so. When mixed, cognac contributes an alluring bouquet and exuberant, fruit-induced flavour. It may be perceived as a stodgy, old, classic spirit, but in reality, it isn’t so.
A bartender once told me, add a modifier or two to a cognac and you’ve got something truly spectacular. In fact, many of the vintage cocktails being reintroduced are prepared on a foundation of French brandies. It is suddenly fashionable again. And why not, after all, it is versatile base ingredient that blends well with many flavours. A good cognac feels like rich velvet on the palate.
Cognac is a classic ingredient in eggnog or sipped as a relaxing after-dinner drink. The Sidecar has been done to death, I know, but I still enjoy it. This is a classic cocktail created with 6 parts cognac, 1 part Cointreau and 1 part lemonade. Sazerac, named after a popular Cognac brand of yore, Sazerac de Forge etFils, is something we are all familiar with. And who can forget Hemingway sipping an iconic Highball made of cognac and soda?
Even if one tries hard, one cannot ignore the pedigree of this spirit and bartenders can just not avoid it. Agreed, that the popularity of this spirit did wane for a while, and vodka, and other spirits took over, but it is being reinstated to its position once again. In the olden days, cognac-based mint julep was considered the height of the bartender’s art. But sadly no longer so. Adventurous bartenders today are ready to experiment with cognac. They know there is more to cognac, than just sipping it after dinner. The way it lends itself to other fruits, spices and herbs, in fact makes it an ideal option for any cocktail.
I once read somewhere that in the middle of the eighteenth century, James Ashley, who ran London’s most famous punch-house and became the world’s first celebrity mixologist, made a fancy bowl of punch using Cognac and added a splash of Jamaican rum for extra bouquet. This was considered to be a state-of-the-art addition in the world of fancy drinking.
Mini is a food writer
