Cocktails to Make with Cognac

Happy National Cognac day! For brown spirits fans like we are, cognac holds a special place: it captures a lot of the wood essences that whisky takes, but is based on a grape brandy distillate instead. Fun fact: the United States is the largest cognac drinking country by volume (and ironically, France is the largest scotch importer by volume).

Unlike scotch, which can be finicky to play with in cocktails, cognac is generally an excellent base ingredient for cocktails and rivals gin for our favorite one to play with. Some of our favorite cognacs for cocktails have been the Merlet VS (has a bit of sweetness but also complexity with darker flavors – plus the price point is there) and the Prunier VS. Without further ado, here are some of the top cognac cocktails we have played around with!

The Cognac Cocktail

Ingredients

• 2 oz Cognac (Merlet)
• .5 oz Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao (alternatively, we have made this with Domaine de Canton, which is also delicious)
• 2 dashes Creole Bitters
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Link to full write-up is here

The 1831 Cocktail

Ingredients

• 1.66 oz Cognac (Martell VSOP)
• .66 oz Cocchi Vermouth di Tornio
• .25 oz Cherry Heering
• 2 dashes Coffee Bitters

Link to full write-up on this “future classic” by Tim Laferla (Bam Bou bar in London, UK) is here.

Japanese Cocktail

Ingredients

• 2 oz Cognac
• .5 oz Orgeat Syrup
• 2 Dashes Angostura Bitters

Link to the full write-up (and the fascinating Japanese interpreter for whom this drink was named after) is here.

Cognac French 75

Honestly, this is way better than using gin.

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Cognac (H by Hine)
• A dash of pomegranate concentrate
• A dash of lemon juice
• ~2 oz Sparkling White Wine (Cremant)

Pomegranate Concentrate Instructions

1. Put pomegranate juice on low in a skillet or broad pot (for surface area) for 5 to 10 minutes
2. Measure out 1/2 a cup of reduced pomegranate juice
3. Measure out 1/2 a cup of sugar and mix
4. Optionally put the mixed 1:1 juice and sugar onto the stove on high for 30 seconds to combine the two

Link to the full write-up is here.