I’ve mentioned we like Vieux Carré cocktails. I have rye, sweet vermouth, and Benedictine liqueur; but I have no cognac. Sauce is expensive here in Washington, but I can get 750 ml of Courvoisier at Bevmo! for $33 plus tax. But I can get brandy cheaper, and without the 50-mile round-trip drive. (It seems the only other local option is Hennessy, which is expensive.)
So… Can I substitute brandy for cognac in this cocktail?
Sure. Cognac is just brandy made in Cogna, France.
Yes you can, if you really have to. Better to step UP your game and substitute an armagnac instead. Bang for the buck the best brandy on the market. Well…second best. Presidente still holds down #1.
The one advantage of brandy over cognac: it’s the cure-all for each and every medical emergency (at least according to Hollywood films of a certain vintage).
You shouldn’t mix…things…into your Armagnac. Any addition would be a diminishment.
If I were making a brandy cocktail — unlikely — I would probably use a California brandy. Cognac or Armagnac would be like mixing a $100 single malt Scotch whisky into a Rob Roy.
Nah. You can find a decent armagnac out there for +/- $30 American, and for a Vieux Carré you only need a little. Then you have a nice sipper as well. Or you can just but the Presidente and be done with it.
I’ve always been amused by the fact that Wisconsin’s Brandy Old-Fashioneds are made with Korbel, from California.
But then I bought a bottle (wow, brandy is ridiculously cheap) and it’s become my daily mixer (Coke, Klarbrunn or Squirt with bitters). And my quarantined son and I did shots of Korbel via Skype the other night.
Stranger
Korbel is my back-up brandy in case I run out of E&J for my morning coffee. Flambés nicely as well.
I used to live up the road from Korbel and often drove there to treat family and friends or just bicycled in for tastes. They used to sell brandy in unmarked pocket flasks for a buck. MrsRico’s grandma, an old union gal, sure loved it, usually taking a few dozen home to San Francisco. Just the right size for hiding in her purse to sneak into the plant.
I’ve found E&J XO to be a serviceable mixing brandy, and it’s obtainable in WA for under $20 a bottle after tax.
If that’s their property on the Russian River, it’s in one of the most beautiful, bucolic parts of the US. Never walked in, as we were usually busy canoeing, but very pretty.
Silenus, I would’ve thought Armagnac would’ve had too much character for the use Johnny L.A. wants. Though I’ve not had a Vieux Carré and maybe the added oomph makes it better?
I knew someone who bred St. Bernards for the brandy. It was very good brandy.
There’s lots of cocktail-grade Cognac out there; stuff like Maison Rouge, Claude Chatelier, etc… And/or you don’t have to buy Napoleon or XO for cocktails- in most cases, VS or VSOP will do the job just fine.
And for a Vieux Carre, I’d wager that the quality of the rye and sweet vermouth are going to be far more prominent than the quality of the cognac.
This brings to mind a whole set of disturbing images… :dubious: 
:eek:
Speaking of Brandy cocktails, just learned of a new twist on a Negroni:
1oz Brandy
1oz Sweet Italian Vermouth
1oz Campari
Over ice. Garnish with orange peel.
When you’re mixing rye, sweet vermouth, Benedictine, and a couple of kinds of bitters, It occurred to me that something like E&J might be adequate.
Yep. There comes a point where it’s just more octain.
