Martell Blue Swift Spirit Drink (AKA Cognac)

At the April 2018 launch of Blue Swift, Christophe Valtaud (Martell’s Cellar Master) told us that its development was driven by US marketeers who sought something distinctly different that took advantage of Martell’s very large stocks of VSOP cognac. We tried to pin him down on exactly how long Martell’s VSOP cognac (aged 4+ years) is finished in the bourbon barrels. His reply, “A few months – the exact time is a secret, but less than six months.”

More telling is that Christophe also said that the level to which the bourbon barrels have been toasted (degree of charring) is key to the success of the finished “spirit drink” (AKA cognac) and that they experimented with barrels from numerous distilleries before finding those which gave the most harmonious result – a marriage of Martell’s fruity character with toasty bourbon vanillins. The question is, what exactly is that level of char?

Why the name Swift? Well, a swift has been an icon for Martell for decades and it is particularly appropriate for this “spirit drink” as the swift is a bird that’s able to fly for days without stopping. It can traverse oceans such as the Atlantic. Incidentally Martell, whose brand colour is of course blue, was the first Cognac house to ship casks of its cognac to the United States in 1783. So, it’s kind of fitting that it is also the first Cognac house to ship bourbon barrels back in which to age its cognac.

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