Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Buying good cognac...shorten the learning curve

Not much of a drinker. Want to buy some as a gift, little help please.

+1

Hennessy is a good choice.....Courvoisier and Remy Martin are others.

You might establish how much money you wish to spend on this gift, and that will define which variant or grade of cognac fits......VS, VSOP, or XO. These grades differentiate how long the young cognac is aged.

Typically there is some difference between grades within brands. If you know your friend well who is receiving the gift, you can canvas this forum for differences in taste of different brands and grades.

I mostly stay below the $100 mark myself, so I'm rarely drinking much XO. I find Courvoisier to be a bit sweeter than Hennessy. But I do like cognac.....and brandy.....room temperature....neat.

I'd like to keep it South of 2 bills.

Can't go wrong with Remy.

-Ken

I keep a bottle of Remy Martin 1738 on hand. Pleases most folks. Bottle runs about $70

The Ladies Man likes Courvoisier

... with Coca Cola...



FC

He sure does. Lol

Don't forget Martell, or Hine.

What are the brothers drinking these days? Lol.

You are not going to go wrong if you're dropping a bill+ on a bottle of cognac.

Korbel

Korbel isn't cognac.

All cognac is brandy, but not all brandy is cognac.

+2

Thanks Gents

Friend gave me a bottle in a nice wooden box. It is called
Delamain Très Vénérable de Grande Champagne Cognac. Never had any cognac before. Bro in Law and I polished off half of the bottle after a little Irish Whiskey , nasty. It tasted pretty good. Don't have a clue of the price. Thought I would check next time I go to the beverage store.

No [bleep].

Back in my drinking days, about 34 years ago, give or take, they used to sell some stuff called Camus that was about the same price as Remy Martin, but way smoother.

Here's my understanding...

Brandy is distilled fruit wine. Fruit can be grapes, apples, plums, peaches, cherries, etc. Most brandies are from grape, if not, usually they are labelled by the fruit they come from.

Cognac is brandy made in the French province of Cognac from grape wine. Armagnac is brandy made in the French province of Armagnac. Among other types of brandies are Calvados, Grappa, Slivovitz, etc. Many of these names are legally recognized trademarks in Europe, but not necessarily in the United States.

As mentioned earlier by Grandview, there are different grades of brandies. If I recall correctly, these are determined in Europe by European law.

After the brandy is distilled from the wine, it may be blended with other batches of distilled wine. It is then aged in oak barrels. Very Special (VS) must be aged for at least 2 years. Very Special Old Pale (VSOP) is aged for at least 3 years. Napoleon Cognacs require at least 6 years. I do not think that XO is an official class, but Hennessey uses it to mean aged for at least 10 years.

Lots of excellent suggestions here. Probably best to go with a good and well known 'house' from the province of Cognac.