the library

Cognac

Spirits & brews· spirit

What it is

Cognac is a brandy distilled twice in copper pot stills from white wine grown around the town of Cognac in southwest France, then aged in oak.

What it tastes like

On the nose: buttery. Among its measured molecules: γ-dodecalactone, γ-nonalactone, syringol, ethyl lactate, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural.

Every one of its 15 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

• acetic acidaromaacidreads as pungent (PubChem)Measured in 37 of 341 ingredients.cite

  119.2-133.7 mg/L across the six Cognac brandies; named in the paper's PLS-DA among the compounds discriminating VSOP from XO — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, row 'acetic acid', Cognac columns)
• guaiacolaromaphenolreads as aromatic (PubChem)Measured in 15 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.1-2.1 mg/L across the six Cognac brandies — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, row 'guaiacol', Cognac columns)
• vanillinaromaphenolreads as sweetish (PubChem)Measured in 12 of 341 ingredients.cite

  2.0-5.5 mg/L across the six Cognac brandies; named in the paper's PLS-DA among the compounds discriminating VSOP from XO — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, row 'vanillin', Cognac columns)
• phenylethyl alcoholaromaalcoholreads as sharp burning taste (PubChem)Measured in 42 of 341 ingredients.cite

  8.3-31.9 mg/L across the six Cognac brandies, against 6.3-7.2 mg/L in the three Yantai samples — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, row '2-phenylethanol', Cognac columns)
• isobutanolaromaalcoholreads as sweet, musty (PubChem)Measured in 24 of 341 ingredients.cite

  97.2-409.7 mg/L across the six Cognac brandies — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, row '2-methyl-1-propanol', Cognac columns)
• syringolaromaphenolMeasured in 5 of 341 ingredients.cite

  0.1-2.5 mg/L across the six Cognac brandies — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, row 'syringol', Cognac columns)
• ethyl lactatearomaalcoholreads as buttery (PubChem)Measured in 9 of 341 ingredients.cite

  3.9-8.4 mg/L across the six Cognac brandies; one of the five compounds the paper found 'most important in discriminating brandy samples from Yantai and Cognac' — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, row 'ethyl lactate', Cognac columns)
• γ-nonalactonearomalactonereads as reminiscent of coconut (PubChem)Measured in 4 of 341 ingredients.cite

  35.8-57.5 µg/L across the six Cognac brandies; one of the five compounds the paper found 'most important in discriminating brandy samples from Yantai and Cognac' — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, µg/L block, row 'γ-nonalactone', Cognac columns)
• ethyl acetatearomaesterreads as fragrant (PubChem)Measured in 43 of 341 ingredients.cite

  366.0-584.3 mg/L across the six Cognac brandies; the paper's PLS-DA names it as one of the compounds separating VSOP from XO — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, row 'ethyl acetate', Cognac columns)
• γ-dodecalactonearomalactoneMeasured in 2 of 341 ingredients.cite

  34.0-41.7 µg/L across the six Cognac brandies; one of the five compounds the paper found 'most important in discriminating brandy samples from Yantai and Cognac' — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, µg/L block, row 'γ-dodecalactone', Cognac columns)
• isoamyl alcoholaromaalcoholMeasured in 46 of 341 ingredients.cite

  642.3-710.0 mg/L across the six Cognac brandies — the largest single quantified compound in the spirit — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3 (Quantification of odor-active compounds detected by GC-O and GC-MS in brandies from Yantai and Cognac), row 3-methyl-1-butanol, Cognac columns HVS/HXO/MVS/MXO/RVS/RXO)
• 5-hydroxymethylfurfuralaromaalcoholreads as butter, caramel, musty (PubChem)Measured in 11 of 341 ingredients.cite

  30.3-89.5 mg/L across the six Cognac brandies — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, row '5-hydroxymethylfurfural', Cognac columns)
• β-damascenonearomaterpenoidMeasured in 13 of 341 ingredients.cite

  159.4-421.2 µg/L in four of the six Cognac brandies and 0.0 in all three Yantai samples; the paper states 'In our result, this compound was only detected in four brandies from Cognac' — Ma et al. 2023, Foods (Table 3, µg/L block, row 'β-damascenone', Cognac columns; and Discussion)