Click link in text or photo above for a strong ‘sip’ of a video clip spilling some key but barely known American cognac consumption history + industry intel…
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It’s National Cognac Day in the USA …and what i have yet to find on any mainstream site about ‘cognac day’ is how cognac’s most important and valuable consumer for decades (as in like a half century or longer) has been African Americans who’ve kept the category alive instead of on life support when mainstream America had deemed it too stodgy and old fashioned…
Lucky for you though I’ve saved you some sips from my new mini-Miniseries I’m calling “TFG’s TINY BITES & BIG SIPS,” where I share sifted gems from previous presentations and talks with relevance beyond their original context. This is the first in the lineup from my “TFG TINY BITES & BIG SIPS” FREE mini-Miniseries on PATREON.
Long Before Hip-Hop: Hennessy's Earliest Embrace by Black Americans Abroad
Hennessy is hands down the most popular cognac in the world—and honestly, they don't just lead the market; they practically are the market. To put it into perspective, if you round up the numbers (46%) Hennessy single-handedly commands almost half of the entire global cognac market. So their sales volume is larger than all three of their next closest competitors combined.
And it's not just a powerhouse on the balance sheets; it's achieved a remarkable permanence within Black America's cultural fabric, vocabulary, and vernacular. Arguably the most name-dropped alcohol brand in music history, Hennessy's been a known entity within hip-hop almost since the genre's inception. According to lyrical database tracking, the brand has been referenced in well over a thousand songs by major artists—from Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance" and 2Pac to Snoop Dogg, Drake, and Kanye West. 🎶…
But here's the thing: while plenty has been written about Hennessy and Hip-Hop, far less attention has been paid to a much more interesting question IMHO:
How did Hennessy become so deeply embedded in Black American culture in the first place?
Most people—even many cognac drinkers—assume the story starts with hip-hop.
It doesn't.
Back in my former life as Lead Strategic Brand Planner on the Hennessy account at KB&P, I found myself asking a question nobody around me seemed able to answer: How exactly did a French luxury product become so deeply embedded in Black American culture in the first place?
What began as a marketing question eventually became a historical one.
The deeper I dug, the further back I went, I found myself traveling across time — not just decades—just over a century. Following clues across oceans, cultures, and generations, I found myself tracing a story that stretches from Black Americans abroad in France during and after World War I into the dazzling social, artistic, and intellectual world of the Harlem Renaissance.
Along the way I uncovered a much bigger truth: the relationship between Black America and cognac didn't begin with hip-hop. Hip-hop inherited it.
Want the full pour? Stay tuned. Parts of this story will resurface in France later this year. 🇫🇷
Click photo for all the tea (or in this case cognac!) i spill about my MadMen era ad agency days…
⬅️ Check out this blogpost i originally wrote re: my signature drink when I first got to New York at the end of the 90’s which was The Sidecar, featured in this photo and comprised then of: cognac, lemon juice, sugar — oh and maybe a splash of Cointreau or Grand Marnier for the upgraded version) .
The post gives a glimpse into the MadMen era advertising agency world I was engulfed in when Hennessy Cognac was my main client and THE primary reason I moved from LA to NYC...
No surprise i’ve since adapted this classic and countless others with a spirit swap out for mezcal instead.
The more I've learned about mezcal, the more fascinated I've become by its own surprisingly deep history. To hear some people tell it, mezcal seemingly materialized out of thin air sometime around 2010. Au contraire.
In fact, my research and work has led me to refer to mezcal as "The New World's Oldest Spirit"—a phrase I coined to help capture just how much of its story remains overlooked, misunderstood, or simply untold. With roots stretching back centuries, mezcal's history runs far deeper than most people realize.
And much like the story of cognac in Black America, the version most people know is merely the latest chapter—not the beginning.
Which is precisely why an Eléctrico Sidecar feels right at home in my glass these days. Without further ado, let me present to you:
🍸 The Eléctrico Sidecar Twist
Ingredients
• 1.75 oz Eléctrico Espadín Joven Mezcal
• 0.5 oz Grand Marnier (or Cointreau)
• 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice
• Orange or lemon zest for garnish
Instructions
Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice and shake vigorously until well chilled.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with citrus zest.
The result retains the bright citrus structure that made me fall in love with Sidecars decades ago while introducing the earthy, smoky complexity of a spirit whose history I'm still happily uncovering one sip at a time.
June 4th’s also National Cheese 🧀 Day!…And as I hinted last year, THIS YEAR I’m providing a wee bit more cheese content 😁)…
🧀 Bonus: The Cognac Day & Cheese Day Pairing Twist
And while today's official pairing discussion centers on cognac (it is National Cognac Day after all), don't sleep on cheese alongside mezcal either. In fact, many of the same rich, creamy, and nutty cheeses that complement cognac pair beautifully with Eléctrico's smoky, earthy profile as well.
But on a day already doing double duty featuring Cognac AND Cheese, figured I’d at least provide some quick pairing tips for the two that cosmically go well together. And one primary reason is this: Aside from regional grape spirits like South American pisco, Italian grappa, and Bolivian singani, cognac—aka “brandy” when produced anywhere else in the world — basically outside the legally protected Cognac region of France—is the world's premier spirit distilled from grapes. The same genus species of grapes that make wines. and we all know how well WINE goes with cheese…. so without further ado:
The Rule of Thumb: Hennessy Cognac (both V.S. and V.S.O.P.) has a rich, slightly sweet, and oaky profile that cuts beautifully through high-fat foods—like cheese.
So what’s good in cheese world to pair with the world’s most popular cognac? No presh …(🥁 drumroll 🪘) Simple solution: Rich, creamy Blue Cheeses (like Roquefort) or something like a mature, nutty Gouda are two great options. The alcohol and acidity slice right through the dairy creaminess of each style, while the cheeses in turn tame the spirit's burn. And when consumed together, notes of dried fruit and vanilla emerge, culminating in a luxurious finish…
LEARN MORE ABOUT TFG’s PATREON PLATFORM as a way to access tons more pairing tips…
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