“Cognac geeks are everywhere!” says Alexandre Gabriel, owner of Pierre Ferrand Cognac. “Not only in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, but all across the country.” Gabriel should know. His firm is acknowledged as one of the most successful of the niche Cognacs prized by aficionados who seek out the rare, the unique, the extraordinary. The growing popularity of these small brands is but one of the latest trends in an industry that goes back more than three centuries.
    “Another trend is Cognac cocktails. Ben Reed, the renowned British mixologist, says that Cognac is perfect for mixed drinks because every brand has its own combination of aromatic and flavor components. To create a new cocktail, he simply identifies one of the many elements—citrus fruit, chocolate, ginger, coffee—and either accentuates it or mixes it with complementary flavors.
    “Flavien Desoblin, founder of the fabled Brandy Library in New York’s Tribeca, has his own theory about Cognac’s growing fan base. “People don’t like to drink the same drinks their parents did,” he explains. “For today’s younger generations, it was their grandparents—not their parents—who drank Cognac, so they are open to it.” Desoblin has even noticed a spike in demand for the Sidecar, that retro-yet-wonderful blend of Cognac, Cointreau and fresh lemon juice.
    “Who drinks Cognac and how they drink it may vary from generation to generation, but one thing remains constant: Cognac’s uncontested status as the noblest of brandies and the finest distilled spirit in the world. Its preeminence derives largely from the fact that it is made from grapes, which are far more complex than the grains used in other spirits. The first whiff of even the cheapest Cognac reveals its unique fruitiness, nuttiness and floral delicacy—traits that are multiplied a hundredfold in older Cognacs. Indeed, the other key to Cognac’s superiority is its ability to transform and become more complex with age, the best reaching their peak after 30 years or more.

Like grand cru wines, Cognac owes much of its success to its unique terroir—the nature of the soil and subsoil, the climate and micro-climates and other conditions that can vary from one plot to another. One of the great joys of drinking Cognac is that its characteristics are determined by its precise place of origin, giving enthusiasts literally hundreds of different tastes to discover.
    “Although wine has been made in Cognac since Roman times, it wasn’t until the 16th century that the Dutch provided the basis for the spirit as we know it today. At the time, they were in the market for liquor for their sailors and realized that brandy—what they called “burnt wine” or “brandewijn”—took up much less space onboard than wine, given that distillation concentrates it into a mere eighth of its original volume.
    “Europeans had been distilling wine since the 12th century, and the acid wines produced on the chalky slopes overlooking the Charente River near the little town of Cognac turned out to be ideal for this purpose. Typically, wines and other raw materials require so many distillations to remove impurities that all traces of the original
    “taste are lost. The Dutch discovered that Cognac grapes need only two distillations, enabling them to retain the fruit’s flavors. They promptly imported Swedish copper stills, matured the spirits in casks made from local oak and voilà! They had “invented” Cognac.
    “Smoother and more flavorful than its rivals, the spirit quickly established a premium over brandies made in other wine-growing areas. Success for such a “premium drink” required a market prepared to pay a premium price. That market turned out to be London. In the late-17th century, “Cognac brandy” was one of a number of fine drinks—along with Champagne, claret, sherry and port—that were popular with the thirsty young aristocrats at the court of King Charles II, the “Merry Monarch” who had returned to the throne in 1660 after a decade of dour Puritanism. Even then, Cognac was perceived as something special. In the famous words of author Samuel Johnson, “Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.”
    “The café society of 17th-century London liked their Cognac neat as well as in long drinks. B&S—brandy and soda—remained a favorite nightcap for generations of Britons. It was drunk the same way in early 19th-century America, where it was also enjoyed in mint juleps. In France, fine à l’eau—brandy and water—was long a familiar drink but has now virtually disappeared.

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