Tintura Arnica

I was introduced to Cognac 20 years ago by a gentleman friend. The setting was a discotheque--what my daughters call "club," and the ground zero situation was that I had a bad cough and was feeling very congested. Now what was I doing in that place if I was feeling under the weather, you ask? Well, you know how it is when you're young and foolish? You always think that the moment you stay home to nurse a virus and pass up on one single night of partying the world immediately implodes. That's what happened there.

Anyway, he bought me a balloon of cognac and taught me the ceremony that wraps the mystique around drinking this pricey liquor. One is supposed to completely tilt the glass sideways, with cognac inside, just to the point where it doesn't spill. This is how one knows he has the equivalent of one shot. One is then supposed to cup the balloon in his palm then slowly and briefly inhale the alcohol fumes to decongest the nasal passages. Finally, one is to take a good sip of the burning liquid to warm the throat. It made me feel much better even if I thought the taste wasn't pleasurable at all at that time.

I had made it a habit to take a shot of cognac (if it were available) each time a nursed a cold, which was very seldom--once every two years at most. So cognac meant nothing more than a medieval grog or some type of foul-tasting potion to incinerate germs.

But last Easter, a friend reintroduced me to the XO version and boy, was I hooked. I can't say whether it was the beach setting, the engaging company, or my taste buds that have had 20 or so years to mature ,but I don't quite recall it as having tasted as potent in flavor, as heavy in heat, and full in body, and yet as smooth on the swallow. It was perfect. White wine has been my poison of choice for decades but it has gotten to the point that I feel it fermenting n my stomach after a long night of social drinking, plus, the morning-after heavy head is too much collateral damage no matter how excellent the wine. With cognac, there is absolutely no head at all. And that's what you pay for; that's why it's so darn expensive!

The fermentation of cognac involves no chemical additives whatsoever (used to balance acidity, to enrich color, to prolong shelf life, to add sugar compounds, to stretch alcohol concentration or proof, which cause the bad side effects of drinking highly processed and cheap liquor). A good way of justifying the cost is to think that what you save on a cheaper drink will be spent in headache medicine the next day so they sort of even out in the end. Doesn't make sense? Cheap shot? Yeah, I thought so--sorry.

But it really is good--too good that I had to sing it praises to a girl friend last night. She had a good gulp of it and instantly her face changed--contorted might be the better word--and she said after laboring to swallow the liquid, "Shucks! It tastes like tintura arnica!" I was aghast, "Whadda whoodda what?" She then repeated, "Tintura arnica, you know, that thing the dentists used during our time!"

Are we that old?