Vinepair: We Asked 12 Bartenders: Which Cognac Offers the Best Bang For Your Buck?

There’s a longstanding visual that’s often associated with drinking Cognac. It involves an old, rich white guy in a smoking jacket sitting by a roaring fireplace, slowly and joylessly swirling the liquid in the broad-based snifter in his palm. Despite the category’s efforts to distance itself from this stuffy stereotype, it persists. This assumption does more than convey pretentiousness — it implies that Cognac is the forbidden fruit of the spirits world, unattainable unless you have deep pockets.

This is untrue: Cognac is for everyone, and for every budget. There are plenty of cost-effective Cognac options to enjoy with friends in your living room, either on its own or in a Sazerac or a Sidecar — you can even swap it in for the gin in a French 75 if you’re feeling saucy. Here, we asked a dozen bartenders to share their thoughts on the Cognacs that punch above their price tags — and punch a hole through its perceived stodginess.

The best bang-for-buck Cognacs, according to bartenders:

• Hennessy VS

• Frapin 1270

• Ansac VS

• Monnet Cognac VS

• Pierre Ferrand 1840

• Martell VSOP

• Remy Martin VSOP

• Remy Martin 1738 Accord Royal

• Cognac Park “Carte Blanche”

“I’d never been a fan of Cognac until one of my trusted liquor reps insisted I try Cognac Frapin 1270. It was life-changing; I immediately fell in love with it. The delicate yet well-rounded flavors of vanilla, dried fruits, and nuts have such a smooth finish. It makes it almost impossible for me to not want to enjoy a nice cigar and conversation while sipping it slowly to savor every taste.” —Ravin Buzzell, general manager & bar director, Argyle Restaurant, Ponte Verda Beach, Fla.

UPROXX: Can’t Miss Cognacs For Fall, According To Bartenders

If you’re a bourbon or dark rum drinker and you’re not on the cognac bandwagon by now… what are you possibly waiting for? Fall is an especially great time to start enjoying this flavorful French, grape-based brandy. Grab a bottle, drink it neat, and enjoy the warming, rich, sweet flavor profile on a cool autumn night.

The spirit — which gets its name from the city of Cognac and the surrounding wine-growing regions — is well-known for its complex flavor profile, featuring caramel, vanilla, dried fruits, spices, and other notes that all appeal to whiskey and dark rum drinkers. It even has various levels (VS, VSOP, XO, etc.) letting you know how long it spent aging in oak Limousin barrels.

Don’t take our word for it though. The folks who bide their time behind the bar love this nuanced, exciting spirit even more than we do. That’s why we asked a handful of well-respected bartenders and mixologists to tell us the best cognacs to drink this fall. Keep scrolling to see all of their picks so you’ll know which bottles to add to your home bar cart.

Frapin 1270 Cognac

Steven Dinsmore-George, bartender at The Pembroke in Washington, DC

ABV: 40%
Average Price: $55

The Cognac:

Frapin 1270 Cognac is a can’t-miss fall cognac. This single estate, Grande Champagne cognac is well-known for its indulgent, almost dessert-like palate that makes it an exceptional drink to finish a heavy meal on a cool fall evening.

Tasting Notes:

It has a wonderful smoky start and a spiced finish that will highlight any fall spirit-forward cocktail such as a Sazerac or a Japanese Cocktail. It also makes for a delightful after-dinner drink by itself.

Barrel Hunting in Cognac: Unearthing Hidden Treasures in Dusty Old Cellars

There’s a popular vision of Cognac that’s all blinged out and dripping: crystal decanters, tasting rooms that look like jewelry stores and five-figure bottlings. This image is dominated by a handful of huge brands everyone recognizes: Hennessy, Martell, Rémy Martin and Courvoisier—the so-called Big Four, which sell nearly 90% of the Cognac consumed worldwide, according to the International Wines and Spirits Record. But there is another side of Cognac, too. One that’s based more on the gritty agricultural reality of the region.

I saw it on a cold, gray day last winter at an unassuming farm in the small village of Verrières. This was probably the last place I’d expect to find pricey Cognac, but I was on a barrel hunt with Guilhem Grosperrin, among the new wave of négociants whose limited-edition releases are quickly becoming the most coveted bottles in Cognac. We visited one of the 150 small producers in his network, where Grosperrin crawls around old cellars looking for rare brandies.

When we arrived at the farm, four barking dogs rushed out to us, followed by a ruddy-faced septuagenarian who was still dressed from his boar hunt earlier in the day. Cognac is a secretive, rivalrous place and I was introduced to the man in hunting attire as only Marcel, no last name. Marcel eyed me suspiciously, then asked, “Well, does he like to drink?” Grosperrin chuckled and told Marcel that, yes, I liked to drink very much. With the ice broken, we stepped into his dark, dusty cellar to taste from his barrels, which had been aging since as early as the 1980s. “Sorry it’s dirty in here. I haven’t distilled since 2012,” Marcel said.

The nonstop luxury messaging from the Big Four makes people forget Cognac’s origin as wine. We sipped liquid from Marcel’s barrels that had begun as grapes in the family’s 10-hectare vineyard, which he picked, pressed, fermented and distilled. It’s a similar story for the roughly 4,300 winegrowers in Cognac, most of whom grow less than 20 hectares specifically for Cognac production. During his career, Marcel sold most of his stock to one Big Four house or another. But he always saved a few special barrels for himself. “What they keep is for pleasure, or patrimony, or as souvenirs, or for reasons that are not necessarily logical,” Grosperrin told me.

By age eight, Marcel was able to light the still, which he did in the morning while his father tended to the cows. Marcel remembers a wealthy neighbor who’d been a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II. That man wrote to his family from prison: “Cut down all the trees if you have to, but don’t stop distilling. Distill, distill, distill.” After the war, this guy’s cellar was full, and he became rich. Meanwhile, Marcel’s family had to rebuild its stocks. “The value of money is just in your head,” he said. “But the value of Cognac is solid, and you don’t lose it.”

To whiskey drinkers, single-cask offerings may seem like old hat. But it’s a relatively new phenomenon in brandy. Cognac is actually following a model that’s already been successful for Armagnac. Single-barrel Armagnac from négociants like L’Encantada are catching the fancy of American whiskey connoisseurs tired of paying whiskey prices. The problem in Armagnac is that the existing stock of barrels is small and shrinking.

That offers an opportunity for Cognac, where there is seemingly endless stock. Though, as Grosperrin points out, “It’s much more complicated to buy a cask here than in Armagnac. In Cognac, the producers are richer, and they don’t need small independent bottlers. They have contracts with the big houses.”

It’s still the early stages for the single-barrel Cognac revolution, and we’re just beginning to see these bottles in the U.S. La Maison du Whiskey’s “Through the Grapevine” series was one of the first to appear. PM Spirits has done several limited-edition bottlings, and this year has released rare single-cask offerings from renowned producers Frapin and Remi Landier. Last spring, Grosperrin released bottlings in the U.S. for the first time in several years. Importer Heavenly Spirits has released two single-barrel bottlings from the famed estate Jean Fillioux. Vallein-Tercinier and Jean-Luc Pasquet have plans to bring more of their single-cask offerings into the States.

To be clear, at the moment, single-barrel Cognac is still the domain of aficionados, with prices running more than $200 per bottle. But they’re still a fraction of something like Rémy Martin Louis XIII or Hennessy Paradis Imperial (both more than $3,000). Much of the price of those blingy brand names is wrapped up in specially designed decanters. The new wave of single-barrel offerings is something rarer and scarcer. “This is for people who want the unexpected. It’s a different philosophy. It’s outside of the current market,” said Vingtier.

BRANDY - From Cognac to California, the historic spirit’s influence runs deep.

JUICY FRUIT

From vineyard or orchard to bottle and bar, brandy’s influence runs deep.

Cognac, Armagnac, applejack, schnapps—in whichever form brandy is found, these spirits made from fruit have no parallel in the glass. While whisk(e)y, tequila, and rum get lots of love these days (deservedly so) from cocktail lovers and spirits drinkers, brandy is evolving and emerging on its own terms, slowly building a fan base to take this timeless spirit into the future.

We’re taking a closer look at today’s world of brandy—the ways it’s made and appreciated around the world, the details behind its complex production, and the reasons it should be the next bottle you reach for when cocktail hour rolls around.

Nicolas Palazzi

Bordeaux-born and Brooklyn based, Palazzi is the importer behind PM Spirits, specializing in independent spirits such as L’Encantada Armagnac, Cognac Frapin, and Cobrafire eau-de-vie de raisin.

“Something that’s really cool is when you’re in a brandy cellar, with 50, 60, 100 casks in front of you; even if they’re from the same batch of distillation, every cask is its own world. You could taste 15 casks distilled the same day, and you’ll find tremendous differences between them—whereas something like bourbon would be very consistent. There’s so much aroma and flavor profile available in brandy. If someone thinks Cognac is just one thing and it’s boring or they don’t like it, I assure you, I can find a single-cask Cognac that’ll blow your socks off. It’s a world that deserves to be discovered, for sure.”

20 BEST COGNAC BRANDS YOU NEED TO KNOW

Cognac is the perfect aperitif, it’s rich, complex, aromatic, and ideal for aiding digestion after a delicious, filling meal. It’s also an excellent addition in classic cocktails like a sidecar or as a twist on others like a French 75 or Old Fashioned. The Cognac region, in southwest France, is the only place in the world where it can be produced. Within it, there are six growing regions, known as crus. Strict laws dictate that the specific grape varietals (Ugni Blanc is the most common) must come from here. Plus, producers must also adhere to distillation processes and time and aging protocols to bear the name Cognac. Many Maisons (houses) have been making cognac from these vineyards for hundreds of years. They’ve passed knowledge down from generation to generation, perfecting every drop of the amber liquid that gets bottled.

20. Guillon Painturaud

Patience is the key ingredient that makes the cognac from Guillon Painturaud so good. It’s a small, family-owned producer, who’s Grande Champagne estate has been in the family since 1610. The youngest offering in their collection of nearly ten styles is the VSOP, which has aged for five years and is bold and balanced, displaying all the unique terroir characteristics. There’s also a Reserve, or XO equivalent, with toasted, vanilla, and spice notes with a deep finish. It ages for ten years. Decades of aging go into the Hors Age, resulting in candied apricot and citrus notes, with touches of wood and chocolate. The oldest in the collection is the Cognac Mémoires, which marks the generational change and transmission of knowledge from grandfather to grandson in 1965. It’s limited and rare but boasts and deep intensity and aromatic complexity.

The 16 Best New Spirit Releases Currently on the Market

Cognac Hommage a Yves & Jean-Noel Pelletan 

This limited-edition, single-cask cognac (along with a few demijohns) consists of a blend of eaux de vie that was distilled between 1925 and 1965, so this is truly a taste of cognac history. Just 870 bottles were released this past October, and it was named after a father and son cooperage team who hold the title of Maitres Artisans Tonneliers and are important figures in the cognac category. This is truly a legendary spirit that will not reappear.

Review: Mic.Drop Rye L20-01 4 Years Old

The latest Mic.Drop release from PM Spirits isn’t a bourbon but a rye, another young gun at 4 years old, sourced from Wilderness Trail Distillery in Danville, Kentucky. Mic.Drop L20-01, which was released late last year, is drawn from just 5 casks of rye distilled in 2015 and bottled in 2020, made from a mash of 56% rye, 33% corn, and 11% barley malt. This is purportedly the first time Wilderness Trail has ever sold barrels of aged whiskey to anyone instead of bottling it themselves.

Well, let’s try it out.

Hearty on the nose, the whiskey has the classic punch of rye, all spice and pepper and dried fruits, impregnated with cedar wood and notes of dill. The palate is quite sweet but also impressively spiced, the notes of green herbs and fresh-cut cedar wood punching with some force. Then comes more of the fruit: Apple fritters in sweet cream. A splash of water does some good, tempering the heat and bringing out more of the barrel influence, including a gentle chocolate note that emerges on the finish. Hints of vanilla and brown sugar calm some of the unruly rye spice notes up top, letting the young but expressive rye do its thing with more of a sense of balance.

In the final analysis, it’s really fun stuff. Tough to justify at nearly $100 a bottle, though, but I presume you can convince yourself through whatever logic you need.

108 proof.

A-

The Best Cognacs to Stock in Your Home Bar

Don’t have a bottle of Cognac on your bar? You should.

Cognac—which is a type of brandy (we'll get to that)—has always had an unfairly snooty image. It’s the building block for the Sidecar and the original Sazarac—real down-to-earth cocktail classics. As a result of the French embrace of Black servicemen in World War II, they drank it often. Before it was getting shouted out by everyone in rap, from Tupac to Drake, Hennessy became the first spirits company to place ads in Ebony and Jet magazines. (It was also was omnipresent at my cousins’ weddings at Chinese banquet halls, where there was a bottle of Hennessy on every table, right next to a two-liter of 7-Up for mixing.) Cognac has history, and it's not just pinched-face old white guys in smoking jackets swirling snifters, is what I'm saying. So yes, while you can easily shell out thousands of dollars for aged Cognac in Baccarat crystal, there are great bottles at every price point.

Best Bang-For-Your-Buck Cognacs

Paul Beau VSOP

None of the Cognacs in this category are what you would call cheap, but the idea here is value. “Paul Beau VSOP is an exquisite spirit that sells for around $60, but what makes it a great value is that this VSOP is really an average age of 15 years old,” says Thorn. “This could be labeled as an XO, which would typically fetch at least $100.”

Guillon-Painturaud VSOP Grande Champagne

Similarly, Guillon-Painturaud VSOP Cognac is also an average age of fifteen years old, far exceeding the VSOP designation. “Line Guillon-Painturaud produces on her family’s 18 hectare estate, and she is one of the few female master distillers in Cognac,” Thorn says. “Her Cognacs are elegant and fruit forward, and they are ridiculously good value considering the ages that are in the bottles.”

Navarre Vieille Reserve

“Navarre Cognacs are such a treat. Jacky Navarre is a fourth-generation distiller, and his production methods are slow and old-school. He hand-harvests the grapes, distills in small batches, and does not reduce with water, but instead allows reduction to take place only in barrel over time. The average age is 40 to 50 years old. Navarre Vieille Reserve is around $250 retail, and it is worth it.” —Kellie Thorn

Straight From the Barrel

“...Hommage a Yves & Jean-Noel Pelletan, the rare cask-strength Cognac, has a boldness that belies the softly nuanced quality its category is known for.”

The 25 Best Bourbons of the 21st Century (So Far)

Bourbons have become increasingly collectible. Here are the ones you need to stash away.

There’s much to love about the world’s great Japanese, Scotch and Irish whiskey distilleries. But when it comes to innovation, the wily bourbon producers in the United States have been leading the way for years. In Kentucky and beyond, purveyors of America’s native spirit have refused to let the excellence of their existing products stand in the way of coming up with new ones. And over the last decade and a half, a plenitude of incredible new whiskey with a mash bill of at least 51 percent corn and aged in charred new oak barrels—the house rules for a whiskey to be called a bourbon—has come to market, some from brand-new producers, others new expressions from venerated houses. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. Here are 25 of the best bourbon releases of the last 20 years.

Mic.Drop.

A delicious blend of 20 different casks of eight-year-old whiskey that offers multifarious flavors highlighted by maple syrup, coconut, cloves, and dark fruit. Mic.Drop. came out of nowhere in 2017 and now resides on the back bars of some of the country’s most prestigious drinking establishments. It’s easy to spot, too, with an eye-catching label designed by comic book artist Chris Batista. The follow up, Mic.Drop.2, was released in 2018 —140 bottles at $450 a pop.

WhiskyCast reviewed - Mic Drop Rye, 93 pts

MIC DROP RYE L20-01

Country: USA
Region: Kentucky
Type: Rye Whiskey
Bottler: PM Spirits
ABV: 54%
Score: 93 points

This 4-year-old Rye was distilled at Kentucky’s Wilderness Trail Distillery using sweet mash fermentation with a mashbill of 56% rye, 33% corn, and 11% malted barley. The nose has good notes of baking spices along with a touch of oak, toasted caramel, cocoa beans, black cherries, and molasses. The taste is very spicy with cinnamon bark, allspice, and clove, while a hint of maple syrup comes out as the spices start to fade along with black cherries, pipe tobacco, and oak. The finish is long with lingering spices and hints of maple syrup, anise, and oak. Excellent!  (December, 2020)