Who Drinks Cognac, Anyway?

Recently, while on an Air Canada flight, I decided to bury my nose in their enRoute magazine. I was warned not to make eye contact with any of Air Canada's employees, so I decided a good peruse of their in-fight magazine would keep me out of trouble.

Of all that I read, the article on cognac was the most interesting. Cognac, like Red Bull and Sunny D, is one of those drinks that I see in store displays frequently but never see at the checkout. So who drinks it? No one I know drinks cognac, and for that matter, what exactly is cognac?

First of all, Cognac is a town in (where else?) France. Cognac, the drink, is named after the town and, like Champagne, is made in a certain region of France following very strict guidelines. Cognac is located in western France at about mid-latitude. Cognac, the beverage, is brandy that has been made during a double distillation process from a very specific set of grape varieties.

I won't bore you with the details of the article. The take-away for me was that cognac is expensive and snooty people drink it. If you regularly drink it then congratulations....you're snooty. I don't really state this as fact because I'm quite convinced that I know nothing except what is being written at this very moment (this very sentence, more precisely). I say that snooty people drink it because of the way that it is described, plus cognac drinkers are known snail eaters. Strike two. So, how is it described? Here's what I read in enRoute....

"Making cognac requires so much patience," Christophe says, walking me through the premises. "Some say it's about controlling time, but it's also a celebration of time." He climbs a ladder up to the top of an immense foudre full of cognac and hands me a glass. The young eau-de-vie smells overwhelmingly alcoholic, with a tongue numbing attack. Then, leading me deeper into the chai, he dips a glass wine thief into an old, dust-coated barrel and offers me a taste of 30-year-old cognac. It still has a hint of the burn that locals call l'agressif, but that quickly dissipates as a kaleidoscope of flavours plays over my tongue. I taste dates braised in molten caramel with roasted hazelnuts mixed in, followed by hints of jasmine and beeswax, all rolling out on a dark chocolate finish.

You see why I said 'snooty'? When was the last time you experienced dates braised in molten caramel? Here comes the pitch. A swing and a miss for cognac. Strike three, you're out.

Note: if you'd like to learn more about cognac, book a one-way flight with Air Canada during October and read the article yourself. You could also take the money that you would spend on your Air Canada flight and perhaps have enough to buy a 750ml bottle of Remy Martin XO Excellence Cognac...$174.99.