Category: trips

  • Traveling in Style at the Cocktail World Cup

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    [This is one of many posts submitted live from the 42Below Vodka Cocktail World Cup international cocktail competition. For official event photos, go here. For my photos, go here.] On the fourth day of the Cocktail World Cup in New Zealand, we began the day in Queenstown, New Zealand and ended it in Wellington. Keeping…

  • A Trip to Guatemala for Zacapa Rum

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    The other week I went to Guatemala to learn about Zacapa rum at the source. It was great. The sugar cane for Zacapa is sourced from the western part of Guatemala, near the Pacific coast where it is hot and humid. Here they cleaned up the cane field for the demonstration of cutting. In reality…

  • A Visit to Cognac Paul Giraud

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    My final visit in the Cognac region of France was to the house of Paul Giraud- quite literally his house. In my brief visit we first learned about Giraud's philsoophy: while other houses try to use blending to get a round and multi-faceted flavor profile, Giraud tries to emphasize particular flavors in each bottling.  I…

  • Otard Cognac Visit

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    Last month I took a big trip to Cognac to learn about cognac. One of the many houses I visited was Otard. This cognac house is located in the former fortifying castle of Cognac in which Francois the First was born, on the Charente River next door to Hennessy. A tour of Otard is part…

  • A Visit to Courvoisier Cognac

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    On a recent trip to France, I stopped in to Courvoisier cognac for a visit. Courvoisier is located not in the city of Cognac, but in Jarnac- one of the two other main cognac towns along with Segonzac. Jarnac appears to be a bigger city than Cognac and looks a bit more lively. I popped…

  • Cognac Pierre Ferrand Visit

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    One night on a recent visit to France, I visited Cognac Pierre Ferrand. It was awesome. Our group had the good fortune to visit Ferrand on the first day of the cognac harvest, and the bad fortune to arrive so late that we missed seeing it. Alas. Still, we had a tour of the still…

  • Cognac Frapin Visit

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    Camper English
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    A few weeks ago I went to France to learn about cognac. One of the stops was the house of Cognac Frapin. Frapin sells only estate-grown/distilled/aged cognac, produced in the Grande Champagne delimited region of the cognac area near the town of Segonzac. Frapin is a massively impressive operation from the cellars to the blending…

  • A Cooperage in Cognac

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    I've been to nearly 50 distilleries of all kinds of spirits, but a few weeks ago was my first visit to a real cooperage- finally! Vicard Tonnelleries is a 6th generation cooperage near Cognac in France, where they produce 60,000 French, Eastern European, and American oak barrels each year.  American oak? Yes indeed. They buy…

  • A Visit to the House of Remy Martin Cognac

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    Camper English
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    In France recently, I had a tour and dinner at the house of Remy Martin in Cognac. They don't allow photography in the cellar, so this post is a little light on the pictures. (Suck it up and read.) We entered the building at night so it's hard to recall exactly what the house complex…

  • Cognac Tesseron Visit

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    While in France recently I visited the cognac house of Tesseron. This brand is notable for having probably the second largest collection of old cognacs in demijohns in all of Cognac.  Cognac can only age for so long in barrel before the spirit becomes flabby and loses its aromatic qualities. For cognac made from grapes…