Radio Imbibe Episode 46: Nicolas Palazzi of PM Spirits

The cover story of our March/April 2022 issue features brandy, and for this episode, we wrap up our coverage of the spirit with Nicolas Palazzi. Born in Bordeaux and now living in Brooklyn, Palazzi is the founder of PM Spirits, an importer and distributor of specialty spirits, including Cognac, Armagnac, and Calvados. For this episode, we talk with Palazzi about his search for memorable barrels of brandy, what he looks for in great brandies, and his work to bring these spirits to an American audience. 

Radio Imbibe is the audio home of Imbibe magazine. In each episode, we dive into liquid culture, exploring the people, places, and flavors of the drinkscape through conversations about cocktails, coffee, beer, spirits, and wine. Keep up with us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. And if you’re not already a subscriber, we’d love to have you join us—click here to subscribe.  

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.”

NEAL BODENHEIMER'S OLD HICKORY

Mastering the Old Hickory With Neal Bodenheimer

The obscure vermouth classic gets retooled with an eye toward more flavor and less dilution.

The “raisinated vibe” and wormwood bitterness of La Quintinye Blanc forms one half of the 50/50 vermouth split.

If you’ve never heard of the Old Hickory, you’re not alone. A simple 50/50 mix of sweet and dry vermouths punched up with bitters, this low-proof classic has long existed in the shadow of the Bamboo and Adonis. Neal Bodenheimer wants to put it center stage.

Though he started workshopping the drink at his New Orleans bar Cure, he “really dug in,” as he describes the process, on the Old Hickory for Dauphine’s, a New Orleans–inspired bar and seafood restaurant slated to open this spring in Washington, D.C.. “It felt modern, and like things I wanted to drink,” he explains of the simple build. However, “it felt like a cocktail that never really got its due.”

Part of the New Orleans canon of cocktails, the Old Hickory first appeared in print in Stanley Clisby Arthur’s 1937 book, Famous New Orleans Drinks And How to Mix ’Em. Supposedly, “Old Hickory” was a nickname given to General (and later U.S. president) Andrew Jackson, a reference to his fortitude as he led troops through the Battle of New Orleans in the winter of 1814-15. Although Arthur writes that the drink was Jackson’s “favorite tipple,” Bodenheimer dismisses the claim: “I don’t think people were drinking vermouth in America in 1850.”

Though his vision for the Dauphine’s interpretation is a pre-batched version, Bodenheimer preserves elements of the cocktail-making ritual. The format coalesced at an event held at New York’s James Beard House in September 2019, intended as a preview for Dauphine’s. For the seated dinner with cocktail pairings, Bodenheimer sought out food-friendly pours, and the vermouth-forward Old Hickory seemed like a natural fit. Yet, stirred with ice, it felt too thin and watered-down. The solution was to pre-batch the vermouths and refrigerate the mixture until ready to serve. Bitters were stirred in at the last minute—“bitters expand in a batch over time, so I keep them out,” says Bodenheimer—and the mixture was then poured over a large ice cube and quickly served. The end result presented like a cocktail, but retained the texture of wine.

“We said, ‘What if we made it like an Old-Fashioned setup, and less like a vermouth cocktail?’” he recalls. “We always had our vermouth in the fridge anyway, so we always had a chilled vermouth bottle.”