Spirit of Invention

Cognac has reinvented itself more times than Madonna, but now that staying in is the new going out some brands are going back to the drawing room. Digestif, anyone? asks Ben McFarland

Brown spirits have long been living under the shadow of white supremacy in the UK yet there are signs that drinkers are crossing over to the dark side. Bourbon is making all the right noises in the style-bar arena, golden and aged rums are showing healthy growth and, via concepts such as Compass Box, Monkey Shoulder, J&B -6°C and the Easy Drinking Whisky Company, Scotch is taking great strides to replace its heather-and-weather image with something a bit more contemporary.

But for one tanned tipple that has eclipsed all others in terms of innovation, look no further than Cognac. Brandy has thrown off its cardigan and discarded its slippers in favour of something a lot more à la mode, as they’d say in France. Innovation is rife across the board with the leading players and further interest has been stimulated by the arrival of a number of niche, Cognac-based fruit-flavoured liqueur brands.

A quick glance at the vital statistics reveals Cognac in a fairly healthy state, especially when compared with other dark spirits. While the on-trade figures are sluggish in volume more than value, the Cognac category is now outperforming the overall spirits market. There’s a particularly good showing in the off-trade where, in the last year, growth ticked along at a healthy 1.6%. Cognac has been climbing a modest yet steady incline since the turn of the century. After several years of stagnation, a fire was lit under Cognac’s rocking chair by the strange yet well-publicised kinship with the urban black music scene in the States.

It may be more readily associated with elderly drinkers waiting for a hip-op than the dedicated followers of hip-hop, but Cognac is up there with Uzi machine guns, bling jewellery as an integral accessory to rap recognition. Yet, while the more grandiose brands such as Courvoisier and Hennessy have no doubt reaped the rap reward in the US, the bling factor doesn’t quite have the same sparkle in the UK and none of the leading brands are pinning their colours solely to the hip-hop mast.

“The Cognac category is an especially exciting one at the moment and has been for the last three years,” says Liz Hodson, senior brand manager for Courvoisier. “The hip-hop thing is certainly seen as a catalyst to the growth but it’s secondary to Cognac’s association with luxury, and that’s where we’re focusing our efforts.”

Courvoisier, part of the Allied Domecq stable that now resides under the stewardship of Jim Beam Brands UK (itself a subsidiary of parent company Fortune Brands), is the leading player in a Cognac category with a 40% and 44% share of the on- and off-trade sectors, respectively. Its entry-level VS variant represents 97% of the company’s UK sales, yet the brand has embarked on a mission to coax drinkers up a level or two into the VSOP and XO brackets. In October a new look was unveiled for Courvoisier VSOP, VSOP Exclusif and XO with new livery designed to enhance the brand’s luxury status. “Our strategy is focused on getting consumers to step-up from the VS and explore the portfolio,” adds Hodson. “The rebranding has coincided with VSOP Exclusif’s debut listing in the off-trade.”

After three years hanging about with all the right style bars and leading mixologists, Exclusif is highlighting its cocktail compatibility in the off-trade courtesy of an engraved collar cocktail booklet adorned with several cocktail suggestions.

Swizzle sticks
Courvoisier is certainly not the first Cognac house to dip its swizzle stick into the fickle world of mixology. Back in 1999, with the young, black drinker in mind, Hennessy launched the badly titled Pure White, a Cognac made for mixing that failed to live up to its billing. With Pure White discontinued in 2003, cocktail attention has turned to Fine de Cognac, a blend sourced mainly from the Fins Bois and launched in 2003, which the company hopes will coax the muddlers and shakers of the style bar scene and also appeal to Cognac doubters. However, it is the XO level and above that is the real focus for Hennessy. “Our strengths are firmly in the top-end bracket which incorporates XO, Paradis and Richard,” says Leo Haque, Hennessy brand manager. “This is the area for which we’re respected by the trade.”

Hennessy, which enjoys a 17% share of the super-premium Cognac sector, has stayed true to tradition in terms of the marketing message, eschewing any suggestion of versatility. “XO is the only one we’re likely to promote as mixable and that’s solely on the rocks,” Haque insists. “There’s a lot of dynamism in the Cognac category, and we welcome the considerable investments being made, but there’s a risk of confusing the consumer.”

In an effort to enlighten new consumers about the flavoursome benefits of a higher-priced range of Cognacs, Hennessy has launched a series of workshops, or Friday Tonics, in key institutions around London. On the last Friday of each month, within the premises of leading companies including law firms, advertising agencies, magazine and newspaper houses, banks, TV stations, and male grooming salons, leading bartenders deliver a tasting of the Hennessy portfolio and a talk about Cognac’s history.

Haque adds, “The average consumer has a stereotypical image of Cognac – a large balloon glass, leather armchair, and a fireplace. However, we have found when people are presented with the story of Cognac, and taken through a relaxed interactive tasting in their own environment – using cocktails, and other simple new ways of drinking Cognac – they discover a whole new drinking experience.”

The top end is also being closely courted by the folks at Pernod Ricard who have recently released a new XO Cognac under the Martell banner. The showcase variant is the latest creation of Martell’s cellar master, Bruno Lemoine, whose background is in winemaking rather than brandy. “We felt that the existing XO wasn’t as strong as we would have wanted from a Martell XO so we have redesigned the bottle, and Bruno has created a Cognac with extra Borderies and Grand Champagne,” says John Grieveson, marketing director at Pernod Ricard. “It’s retained the robust essence of the Martell style yet still plays to the XO rules. Cognac has had a little bit of a resurgence in the last few years and, generically, there’s still a great deal of potential for growth as Cognac has a clear and defined price ladder that consumers can step up – from VSOP to XO – and this will continue to drive value into the category.”

Having assumed the brand from Seagram in 2001, Pernod Ricard has blown the cobwebs off its core Martell brand with, firstly, an on-trade crusade highlighting its mixability and, more recently, a return to the after-dinner drinking occasion in the shape of the Let The Conversation Flow campaign.

As the post-prandial drink has taken a luxurious, leather upholstered back seat in recent years, few drinks companies have coveted the after-dinner drinking occasion. However, Martell has placed it at the forefront of its marketing message in both on- and off-trade. “We’re trying to redefine Cognac’s traditional drinking occasion,” says Grieveson. “Let’s be clear though, we’re not talking stuffy, starched white tablecloths and retiring into another room here. We’re talking about taking a new approach to an association that’s still very strong; it’s tapping into a huge occasion. Having a drink after a meal with your friends is not something that’s as faddy as other ideas undertaken by other Cognac houses. As more people stay in and socialise, it’s going to be increasingly relevant.”

Off their trolley?

If Martell’s decision to put the figurative wheels back on the after-drinks trolley seems a brave one, then how about Remy’s decision to promote its Cognac not after one’s meal, but during? Remy Martin, part of the Maxxium UK stable, has taken the unusual step of promoting Cognac with food, a consumer-driven trend that is currently blazing a trail in China.

“It’s not something we’ve simply dreamt up on our own but rather something that is happening in a big way over there,” says Lorna Bruce, Remy Martin brand manager at Maxxium. “Cognac with food may seem a strange idea in this country, but there’s no reason why Cognac can’t be served like wine. Cognac can really bring out the flavours in dishes. The Remy VSOP goes extremely well with sushi, for example, and XO with chocolate dessert is simply sublime.” Remy is also pushing its VSOP with Roquefort cheese.

Remy has cemented this epicurean affiliation with elite eateries by working with the Harden’s Restaurant Guides to identify the 20 top upcoming chefs and restaurateurs.

On the bar scene, Remy is promoting the VSOP Sub Zero, a measure of its Fine Champagne Cognac that’s chilled right down to minus 18 degrees. “It’s not a slush puppy or a Cognac on a stick but rather a serve that takes the edge off the burn that can be a little off-putting,” says Bruce. “The main goal is to expand the drinking occasions for Cognac and move away from the festive season to establish it as an everyday drink.” db

FLIRTING WITH FRUIT

Accessibility is the key driver behind the relatively recent emergence of a bustling fruit-flavoured, Cognac-based liqueur market. With its roots firmly in the urban music scene across the pond, dating back to the late 1980s, the trend first hit these shores in 2000 in the shape of Alizé, a combination of VS Cognac, French vodka and a mix of passion fruit, cherry, ginger and eclectic fruit juices.

Alizé has gained traction in the UK by applying a similar blueprint to the US and developing a close kinship with the urban club scene. “There’s a clear core consumer profile in the US that was mirrored in the UK and it’s proved very fertile ground,” says Alizé International’s managing director, Lewis Johnstone. He dismisses the suggestion that the presence of Cognac was the key to its success: “I don’t think many consumers even know there’s Cognac in it. We’re up against other liqueurs and not simply Cognac-based brands. Where we differ [from similar brands] is that a lot of Cognac houses are reluctant to venture into this sector as they need to protect their core brand identity.”

The Alizé brand, which remains the current UK market leader with volume sales of 25,000 cases, has rolled out the red carpet for a number of rival brands such as Remy Red, a duo of female-friendly fruit liqueurs that also cut its teeth in the US.

Xante Pear Cognac, distributed by Fuel Brands, has also entered the market at a higher ABV level of 38% and successfully forged a number of lucrative relationships with bartenders in London and Scotland. Fuel Brands’ Gordon Shon distances the brand from other Cognac-based liqueurs: “It’s too narrow a band and people don’t register that it’s Cognac. However, Cognac is a useful hook as it provides bartenders with a stuffy preconception that they can shoot down.”

The nascent category was thrust into the limelight last year when Hypnotiq arrived amid a cacophony of marketing hype. With genuine bling credentials and a reputation as the fastest growing spirit brand in the US, distributor Allied Domecq had great hopes for the blue-hued brand. Such was its potential threat, Alizé even launched Alizé Bleu, with a slightly higher ABV of 20%, as a direct rival to Hypnotiq.

But Hypnotiq’s bark has been greater than its bite with lukewarm reaction from the on-trade. Mixologists have yet to adopt it as a legitimate back-bar player while, despite a handful of high-profile Hypnotiq hip-hop events, the UK urban black music scene has failed to return anything like the equivalent level of volumes as its American counterpart. It remains to be seen where the brand ends up following the sale of Allied Domecq.

Despite this, the category is seen to have potential. Grand Marnier is set to throw its beret into the bling-ring next year with the launch of Navan, a Cognac blended together with natural black vanilla from Madagascar. It is the first new product to be unleashed from the cellars of Grand Marnier since 1977.

That Grand Marnier has laid solid foundations among the upper echelons of the UK restaurant and bar scene may see Navan succeed where Hypnotiq has struggled. Diligent work within the cocktail scene has driven double-digit growth (around 15%) for the past two years and pushed the message that, like dogs and irksome relatives, Grand Marnier is for life, not just for Christmas. Pierre Garbolino, Grand Marnier brand manager says, “We’ve got very good awareness and excellent distribution so the main challenge for us is getting people to understand exactly what it is and to highlight its flexibility.” db