Chemistry of the Cocktail

Yet another drink taken from The Art of the Shim, the history has since been updated to show that its provenance reaches even further back....

And finally we come to the fancy decanter. Which I don't have. This is also one of the few releases in their core lineup that is entirel...

Cigar blends are one of those slightly anachronistic features of the spirits industry that still appear from place to place. While the pairi...

This is something of the odd one out in this lineup since it appears that the expression has been reformulated since this tasting set was re...

Maison Park has an interesting twist in the middle of their lineup - instead of Napoleon or some other fanciful name to mark the midpoint be...

As with most cognac houses, Park's VSOP expression is the next step up from their entry-level VS (though they also have an Organic Fins ...

Cognac Park has something of a peculiar history. The distillery goes back to 1880 and has been in the hands of the Tessendier family ever si...

Louis Royer Force 53 has a very particular place in my journey in the spirits world. I first heard about it through Cocktail Chronicles sin...

Looking back, Rémy Martin VSOP was the earliest cognac  I looked at as a sipping spirit. While I haven't gained a ton of experience sin...

Courvoisier something like the fourth largest cognac house by sales volume, but its prominent placement in some critical hip-hop tracks of t...

If you've heard of cognac, you've probably heard of Hennessy. The biggest brand in terms of sales, they're part of the luxury po...

Giboin is a small cognac house with vines located in the Fins Bois and Bordaries regions. It has been family owned since 1830 and produces ...

The Dudognon family have been growing grapes in the Grande Champagne region since 1776. While they sell some of their limited (~200 barrels...

Unlike many cognac houses, Maison Ferrand doesn't use the standard VS/VSOP/XO designations for their expressions. Ambre sits around the ...

This book is part of the Mitchell Beazley Classic Wine Library, an encyclopedic series. Published in 2004, it presents both the history of...

The Hardy cognac house was founded by an Englishman, Antoine Hardy, in 1863. It has stayed in the family's hands over the last century a...

Pierre Ferrand is both a very old and a relatively new company. Old, in the sense that the history of Pierre Ferrand stretches back to the ...

While I've made brandy - based cocktails from time to time , this is the first time I've really tried to get a handle on cognac a...

Some spirits are just meant to be together. Rum and brandy come from distinctly different worlds - rum is derived from the waste products of...