Cognac, etc

Spirits
1

I have taken to heart @Splificator ’s advice in Imbibe that pre-prohibition cocktails should be made with one of the few >40% ABV VSOP cognacs such as Ferrand 1840 or Royer Force. But damned if there aren’t a ton of those brandy cocktails, and a ton of other cognacs out there.

  1. Have any other cognacs turned up that are on the stronger side? Pretty depressing that the cognacs that dominate the US market are 40%, even the so-called premium expressions.
  2. Are there higher-strength non-cognac brandies that can compete in quality? (I’m pretty pleased with www.berensoldfashionedbrandy.com at 45%.)
  3. When did ABV’s start to shrink, such that a “contemporary” bottling would be more “accurate” in a recipe? 1950’s? 30’s?
  4. What else is there to know about cognac? Are there any sub groupings, or shared characteristics besides VS, VSOP, XO? Are the crus (grande champagne, petite champagne, borderies) indicative of meaningful things in the glass, or just a prestige markup?
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…a Sidecar made with a brandy that matches the style of a 19th-century brandy yields the best results. Today, such a brandy is most comparable to a classic Armagnac, and as the one used by Frank Meier had presumably spent a long time in the cask and consequently developed intense notes of wood and rancio, we chose a twenty-five-year-old Armagnac.

From the recent Lemons – Part 1: Introduction – Bar-Vademecum

Can you elaborate on this, @armin ?

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I presume Armin will be expanding on his take on the brandy situation in part two of his Sidecar post.

Alas, I don’t have much to add on this topic. I think Louis Royer Force 53 has been gone from the market for some years. Some higher proof cognacs are discussed here, but they all seem exotic and spendy.