LCBO Food & Drink Holiday 2023

INSIDE SCOOP

SEASONAL SIPS Cognac 101

Widely considered the finest brandy on the planet, Cognac is full of holiday spirit. It’s a wonderful gift, it shines in eggnog, and it makes for a luxurious digestif. Here is a quick guide to this premium spirit.

VILLAGE NOËL

To time-travel back to Christmas in New France, visit New Liskeard in Northern Ontario for their annual Village Noël fête. Held from November 23 to 25, it features local crafts and foods, log-sawing competitions, and hundreds of volunteers dressed in period garb. For more information, visit villagenoel.com.

GIVING BACK BANK ON IT

The skyrocketing price of food has pushed more Ontarians to rely on food banks. If you’re looking to help, one of the most effective ways is by donating money or your time at organizations like Feed Ontario (feedontario.ca) and Second Harvest (secondharvest.ca). If you want to drop off non-perishable food at donation boxes, here are the 10 most in-demand items, according to the Burlington Food Bank (burlingtonfoodbank.ca)— cereal, soup, juice, granola bars, peanut butter, crackers; canned fruit, tomatoes and vegetables; and baked beans.

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO SERVE IT? Cognac is best served neat at room temperature. The traditional glassware choice is a snifter (aka balloon glass), which leaves plenty of room for swirling. True Cognac aficionados prefer a small er tulip-shaped glass—it’s narrow top concentrates the aromas, while the stem prevents your hands from warming it up. HOW DO YOU MIX WITH IT? Most top bartenders choose Cognac over other brandies for cocktails—its bold flavours and silky texture make more of a statement. VS is terrific in sours like a Sidecar. For stirred drinks like a Sazerac, it’s worth upgrading to VSOP, which will give it more body.

WHAT IS COGNAC? Cognac is a grape-based brandy produced in a region in western France near its name sake town. To ensure quality, it’s made un der Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) rules. The wine base must be distilled twice in small copper pot stills then aged in French oak from Limousin or Tronçais. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT GRADES? There are three basic grades, each guar anteeing a minimum age for the youngest brandy in the blend. For VS (Very Special), it’s 2 years, and you tend to get more woody spice in the flavour profile. For VSOP (Very Superior Old Pale), it’s four, which brings out more fruitiness. For XO (Extra Old), it’s 10, and you can expect a heavenly sipper with layers of complexity.

THREE TO TRY Rémy Martin XO Cognac LCBO 583468, $330.20, Louis Royer VSOP Cognac LCBO 28446, $84.95, Meukow Cognac VS LCBO 382580, $68.50.

38 FOOD & DRINK HOLIDAY 2023