I visited a bunch of cognac houses in the fall of 2014, and spent nearly a whole day with Cognac Hine at their vineyards, winery, distillery, and blending house. Read more →
In 2014 I visited several cognac houses, and had the pleasure to spend several hours with Benedicte Hardy of Cognac Hardy in their aging and blending facilities. We got really nerdy with specifics on aging cognac. But first, some background. Hardy specializes in luxury cognacs, and in general is blended in an "approachable" and "feminine" style. It's a very large operation, with 20,000 barrels aging at their warehouses valued at more than 50 million dollars worth of booze. It was Benedicte's father who made the company famous in recent years putting the emphasis on luxury. She herself has a law... Read more →
A quick tour of the house of Deau Cognac in France. Read more →
The Merlet family has been distilling in France for 5 generations, but have only launched their own brand of cognac in recent years. They have a really interesting history that I learned on a visit to their chateau, vineyards, and distillery in 2014. Read more →
Details.com likes me to write about the trendiest of trends, so I skipped the big macrotrends like mezcal and expensive bourbon, and focussed instead on the small stuff. Read more →
These eight recently-released books cover cocktails, both new and historical, whiskey and where it comes from, brandy specifically and all spirits generally. Read more →
Six new cognacs are hitting the market from existing brands Hine and Tesseron. Read more →
These are seven newish drink books that have arrived at Alcademics HQ for your consideration. Most of the below descriptions come from the book blurbs and are not reviews, as I'm about 30 books behind on my reading list. Nicholas Faith's Guide to Cognac by Nicholas Faith (Not sure why this book is so expensive on Amazon; it's only 132 pages. The Kindle version appears to be free.) Nicholas Faith’s Guide to Cognac is a directory supplement to Nicholas’s best-selling book Cognac: The story of the world’s greatest brandy. Bitter: A Taste of the World's Most Dangerous Flavor, with Recipes... Read more →
