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Author: Bev Appleton

Expensive Drinks Remain Popular….and some people have money to burn!

Posted / in News and tagged

Even in these times of austerity there is still money to be found for expensive tastes in alcohol.  Well, that is certainly how it would appear reading the recent news columns.  According to a Onepoll survey, the average Britain spends £49,581 on alcohol during their adult lifetime and those with really expensive tastes manage to rack their average bill up to a whopping £167,000.  Perhaps they are the customers who frequent Gigi’s restaurant in Mayfair where a cocktail, created in honour of the James Bond actress Grace Jones, retails for £9,000?  Made from 1990 vintage Champagne and 1888 vintage Armagnac, it claims to be the world’s most expensive cocktail.  A believable statement given that the bill would burn a hole in most peoples’ pockets – except that is, Paris Hilton’s.  Last week in New York the heiress to the Hilton hotel empire managed to spend £140,000 at the bar in one night – some people still know how to party!

We have some wonderful vintage armagnacs on our shelves and even though they are cheaper than a Grace Jones, we wouldn’t waste any one of them in a cocktail!

 

The World’s Most Expensive Hot Dog

Posted / in News and tagged

More than 1000 people have paid $100 for a ‘Dragon Dog’, the world’s most expensive hot dog.  At the Vancouver restaurant ‘Dougie Dog’, the bratwurst is served soaked in $2000-a-bottle cognac, fried in truffle oil and topped with Kobe beef and fresh lobster.  The idea behind the 12″ hot dog was to provide “something super tasty but also high-end” and customers who have been tempted have all absolutely loved it.  Hot dogs are normally classed as Fast Food –  quick and cheap – but this one can profess to be neither.  It must be ordered 12 hours in advance and with no change out of a $100 bill its consumption would take a bit of planning – but at least then you could order a take away and choose somewhere truly delicious to eat it!

Not sure that we would pour our $2000 cognac, Hermitage 1903 Ambleville over a hot dog, it’s much too precious and tasty for that!

 

The End of Counterfeit Spirits?

Posted / in News and tagged

According to market analysts, 25% of European spirits imports in some Asian countries  are counterfeit. The refilling of empty high-end bottles is now the gold standard for counterfeiters, especially in China.  So, it is particularly good news to see the launch of ‘Capseal’, a device which prevents bottles from being refilled fraudulently.  A chip is connected to an antenna which is inserted on the neck of the bottle, just above the cork. When the cap is removed, the tag is mechanically deactivated.  By using a smartphone or NFC device to scan the chip embedded in the tag, anyone can easily verify the authenticity of the bottle, confirming that it has not been previously opened. This technological breakthrough provides the wine and spirits industry with a unique and secure solution to solve counterfeiting and refilling problems.  It is compliant with existing bottle caps allowing producers to incorporate it easily into current production systems. Let’s hope that this most effective anti-counterfeiting solution is welcomed by the industry so that confidence in brand quality can be restored in the Asian market.  Provenance is key to the selling of luxury cognac which is why our latest range is called exactly that – Hermitage Provenance Cognacs.

Hermitage Provenance Cognacs Win Masters Medals

Posted in News, News from the Brandy Houses and tagged

We are delighted to announce that three of our new Hermitage Provenance range of single estate cognacs, produced for the Asian market, have won medals at the 2014 Cognac Masters Awards.

The Hermitage Provenance Grand Champagne 10 year old, Grand Champagne 25 year old and Petite Champagne 30 year old were all awarded Masters Medals. This exciting array of awards proves that it is not just us that think our cognacs are the best, the judges were obviously bowled over too!

Yet another accolade for our exceptional Hermitage Cognac Range – single estate, luxury, vintage cognacs with age statements – surely the most decorated cognac house in existence today.

David on Technical Topics – Keeping Cognac

Posted / in Brandy Education and tagged

We are often asked how long you can keep a bottle of cognac once it has been opened and the answer is for quite a long time – provided the bottle is stored upright and the cork replaced firmly every time you take some out.  Cognacs deteriorate in the bottle over time for many reasons, the most common being that the bottle has been stored lying down.  Strong spirit affects the cork to a far greater extent than wine does stored in the same position; this action compromises the flavour and allows air into the bottle.  The more air there is in the bottle, the faster the cognac will deteriorate, however, cognac’s minimum strength is 40% abv so, providing that the cork or stopper is replaced firmly, there is no reason why it should not last up to ten years or even more.

Of course there is a limit as to how long you can store any spirit in a bottle, even unopened, and so much depends on the quality of the seal and the condition of the cork. Ultimately, even with the bottle in an upright position the seal around the cork will fail, air will enter the bottle and the alcohol will escape rendering the cognac with a completely unacceptable flavour.  This often happens with some very old cognacs from previous centuries and so the level of cognac in the bottle is important. We believe that cognac corks should be changed every twenty years but there are some in Cognac who recommend changing them every ten.  Perhaps the safest option is to drink and enjoy it!

How to make a Sidecar and who invented it?

Posted / in Cocktails and tagged

Traditionally made with 1 1/2 oz Cognac, 1 oz orange liqueur (Cointreau or Grand Marnier) and 1/2 oz lemon juice, the Sidecar is thought to have been invented around the end of World War I, most likely at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. It was made famous by Harry MacElhone’s, a bartender at the Ritz who in 1922 included a recipe for the cocktail in his book, Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails, listing the cocktail as having equal parts of Cognac, triple sec and lemon juice. In the book, MacElhone cites its inventor as Pat MacGarry, but in later publications claims himself as its inventor. Its name is thought to have been inspired by an American Army captain, Ritz regular, during World War I, who often travelled by sidecar. MacElhone later opened Harry’s New York Bar – the birthplace of the Bloody Mary.

Original article published by the drinks business.

Toasting The Tour of Britain

Posted in News and tagged

There was great excitement in Bradford on Avon on Friday morning as the Tour of Britain came through our small, Wiltshire town for the first time.  Even more excitement ensued when we found that the cyclists would be racing straight past our front door with Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish among them.  The Tour of Britain, which was revived in 2004, is now Britain’s biggest professional cycle race so, to celebrate its success over the last 10 years and cheer the riders on, we joined our neighbours with a toast of Hermitage 10 year old Grande Champagne Cognac – Award winning cognac for award winning cyclists.

 

Scallops on skewers with Blanche Armagnac and Passion Fruit Vinaigrette

Posted / in Recipes and tagged

 

 

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 lime
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 passion fruit
  • salt & pepper
  • 12 beautiful scallops
  • 20ml Blanche Armagnac

Make the vinaigrette by mixing the zest and juice of the lime with the olive oil and passion fruit seeds.  Season with salt and pepper.

Compile 4 skewers by skewering the scallops through the thickest part.  Season with salt and pepper.  Gently cut the scallops on 2 sides crossing the incision.  Heat some olive oil in a pan until very hot then add the skewers.  Sear on both sides and flame with Blanche Armagnac.

Serve hot with the passion fruit vinaigrette and a few salad leaves.

David on Technical Topics – What is Cognac?

Posted / in Brandy Education, How to make Cognac and tagged

The other day, I was talking to a barman in a hotel and he, like so many other people, wanted to know “what is the difference between brandy and cognac?” Certainly in the trade we all assume that we know the answer to this, so was our barman an exception? I don’t think so.

Brandy is a spirit distilled from a fruit, it can be any fruit, any strength and aged for six days or 60 years, there really are very few rules. Cognac on the other hand is rather more complex and allows experts to differentiate between different crus, grapes, ages, styles and a host of other factors that create so many variations.  It is a great skill and occupational pleasure to identify each of the thousands produced every year.  The term cognac is defined by the Bureau National Interprofessionel du Cognac (BNIC) as a spirit made from grapes, grown, fermented and distilled in the region known as The Charente and Charente Maritime. The grapes used for the wine can be any of eight different varieties; the principal being the Ugni Blanc followed by Folle Blanche and Colombard and the winemaking must be conducted as per the local custom. Cognac must be distilled twice on an Alembic Still, up to 130 hectolitres can be distilled in the first distillation but only 25 hectolitres may be distilled in the second and the distillation range must be between 67 and 72 degrees.  The minimum strength of cognac must never fall below 40% when sold and every shipment must be accompanied by a gold certificate known as an Acquit Jaune d’Or.   All cognacs must be aged in casks made from the oak trees from either Limousin, or Tronçais, for a minimum of 3 years.

So there you have it, there is a lot more to it than you may think.  As they say in Cognac, “every cognac is a brandy but not every brandy is a cognac”.

Delord Blanche Armagnac

Posted / in Cocktails and tagged

Delord Blanche Armagnac is a truly remarkable armagnac and the best Blanche (white armagnac), we have tasted. Consumed cold, it has all the prune qualities of dark Armagnac.

It has true finesse, surprising as its strength is 42% abv, and can be drunk in a number of ways:

  1. As an Aperitif – to sip over ice.
  2. As a Trou gascon – to drink as a palate refresher in the middle of rich and lengthy dinners.
  3. As a dessert – try pouring over lime sorbet, add a mint leaf and enjoy immediately.
  4. In Cocktails –