"cognac" news and stories

Punch and punch bowls have always bored me. All the ones that I've tried have been overly sweet and dull, and besides, punch bowls remind me of high school dances, and who wants to be reminded of high school?

But this Holiday Punch over at Esquire.com looks like something I could get into, even if it does have rum in it (not a big rum guy). It also includes Cognac and tea bags.

The Amateur Gourmet is one of my favorite food blogs. There's always something interesting there, and it's extremely well written. Where else can you find cool posts like How To Start A Food Blog, Janet Jackson Breast Cupcake, and Thursday Night Dinner Songs?

Today they have a nice step-by-step recipe for Easy Tiramisu. Like Adam, it's a dessert that I've only had in restaurants. But this makes me want to try it at home. Full recipe after the jump.

Despite what the bottle may look like, this isn't Duke Ellington aftershave, it's cognac. More specifically, it's a 25-year-old XO blend from the French cognac house Meukow, according to Nightclub & Bar Magazine. Bottle Watch says it's a 20-year-old XO, however. Either way, The Duke's 'gnac retails for $150 for a 750 ml. bottle. I wasn't able to come up with any tasting notes, perhaps because it's still in limited distribution. I guess this would be an item that swanky bars or jazz clubs would want to have on their shelves. I guess it's not enough to have Ellington in just your record cabinet. Bottle Watch and N & B have distributor info and pics of the packaging, which looks like it could be a CD box set.

The Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac has revamped its website. It is now available in seven differnet languages with a four-colour design to highlight different sections of interest.

So in the 'red section' there is a directory of producers and merchants and if you hope over to 'yellow' there are details on the rules producers have to complie with when making France's most famous spirit, plus dull stuff like export statistics and the like.

News and Events are in blue, where, in French only, you can read about the Fête du Cognac 2006 which takes place from 13 to 16 July. And for want of putting them elsewhere it is in the blue section where recipes using Cognac can be found. All in all a very nicely designed website.

 

Source

Armagnac producer Tariquet is looking towards the more prosperous whisky market with a new range of Armagnacs.

I don't have the figures to hand but Armagnac sales and brandy in general are pretty stagnant when compared to the dynmasisum of the whisky market; so it makes sense for a producer to try and emulate the success. Even the packaging of the three armagnacs look like a malt whisky.

The range is labelled 8, 12 and 15 Years Old and will retail at around £20, £30 and £40. The range also comes in a presentation case, again inspired by malt whisky presentations. Sadly the website does not yet detail these newly launched products.