few years ago, the annoying, yet imitation-worthy SNL character, Leon Phelps, made a mockery of Courvoisier with the whole Ladies Man fiasco (a movie? Really? Come on!), thus saddling the liquor with a cheesy silk PJs, hairy chest, classless reputation. So, in all fairness, in a fight for the little man, I’m bringin Courvoisier back.

(It’s interesting that I mentioned the little man, as Courvoisier is rumoured to be the favoured cognac of everyone’s favourite tiny French dictator.)

To get a good grasp on Courvoisier, I did the required studying and sampling, I did everything a good liquor inspector should do. Here’s what you need to know:

Courvoisier is a cognac, which can simply be translated to the layperson as a brandy from France. The distinction? French brandy, or cognac, is typically made from Ugni Blanc grapes, distilled twice in copper pots only, and then aged for over two years in French oak barrels. Fancy. Courvoisier, however, is specific to the brandy family, in that, when the second distillation occurs, the cognac is actually separated into three parts: the head, the heart, and the tail. Only the heart, the most intense concentration of the flavors, is used in Courvoisier.