Why the Surprising & Unexpected Pairing of Cognac and Sushi is So Great

What should you drink with sushi? Sake? Beer? How about Cognac?

If the idea of pairing Cognac and sushi startles you, you’re not alone. The pairing is rare enough that when the powers behind the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC, or Cognac Trade Bureau) were thinking up ways to bring more attention to their product, an event pairing Cognac with sushi felt like a good choice specifically because of the shock factor.

Cognac tasting photo credit Jordan Hughes

“Who traditionally drinks Cognac?” says Hiroko Shimbo, a New York-based Japanese food expert and the author of the cookbook The Sushi Experience. “Cognac brings this idea of an old guy putting a little sip in a glass and swirling. But the region wants to destroy this kind of image. They want to appeal to a younger audience.” To this end, Shimbo held a virtual event earlier this year to explore the process of pairing sushi. Attendees learned to make nigiri and maki and then tasted them alongside five different cognacs. By the end, everyone agreed that the two foods are actually very complimentary.

For Shimbo, exploring how to pair sushi and Cognac started with an understanding that both items are made carefully and meant to be savored. They also both have relatively delicate flavors and don’t coat the mouth too much. (Shimbo also points out that the two items have another similarity—both reached their highest expression in adopted countries: Cognac was developed from the brandy Dutch trader’s first distilled in the 16th century, while the first styles of sushi came to Japan from China.)

cognac and sushi photo courtesy Georgia Freedman

Ezra Star, a cognac educator and bar consultant who teamed up with Shimbo for the event, was also excited to share how the two items complement each other. “I drink a lot of cognac, so cognac and sushi is something I’ve had multiple times,” she explains. “Cognac can be super bright and fruity and refreshing, and something with higher acid works really well with sushi, especially some of the fattier pieces, like uni and fatty tuna,” she says. “Also, some cognacs have a little bit of sweetness to them, and that will help bring some of the sushi’s umami flavors around,” Star notes that the pairing also brings up the same flavor combinations you might find in Cognac-producing regions if you ordered a tower of seafood in a restaurant.

Surprisingly, this was not the first event to pair sushi and Cognac. Before the pandemic, some other groups also explored this combination, including the France-based food education and event company Experience sur Mesure, which held an event that paired Cognac with a variety of different Asian cuisines. “I think the idea of combining hard alcohol and food comes from Asia, and since cognac has a huge market in Asia, that idea has come across,” says Amy Pasquet of Jean-Luc Pasquet Cognac, whose family’s cognacs were included in that event. “It was surprising, but it worked really well.”

When the sommelier for that event, Oriane Chambon, thinks about pairing Cognac with sushi, she suggests playing with the flavors of younger Cognacs by either freezing them for a couple of hours or chilling them in the refrigerator. Both approaches eliminate much of the drink’s alcohol burn, allowing you to enjoy their fruity flavors without overwhelming subtler pieces of fish. (Freezing the Cognac will also give it a slightly thicker texture that will coat the mouth and add a different element to the pairing.)

So what’s the best way to approach pairing sushi with Cognac? There’s no one way to start exploring, but Shimbo suggests simply trying to savor the items together and balance their flavors. As an example, she notes that the saltiness in a piece of nigiri—which comes not only from the fish but also from the seasoned rice and soy sauce—is well balanced by older cognacs with mellower flavors. Conversely, a younger cognac that has what Shimbo describes as “wilder, more acidic” flavors, would work best with milder fish served without salty elements.

Cognacs photo courtesy Jordan Hughes

Ezra Star suggests starting with a Cognac that has been aged for about four to six years (a VSOP). “It has enough acidity to it that it can cut through some of the fattier things, but it’s also round enough that it can play well with some of the more mild flavors.” But Star cautions that you shouldn’t be too rigid about comparing flavors and trying to find exactly the right combination with your pairings. “I don’t think there are always rules for pairing. It’s kind of whatever anybody likes,” she explains. “Cognac doesn’t have to be so stuffy. We have this idea that there’s so much pretension behind it, but it’s really just this beautiful agricultural product.”

Here are some pairings, suggested by Shimbo, Star, and Chambon:

Bache photo credit Hiroko Shimbo

Bache-Gabrielsen VS Tre Kors with Red Tuna (Maguro) Nigiri

This combination takes advantage of the young, spicy, peppery flavors of this cognac to highlight the tuna’s slight sweetness and offset the hint of metallic flavor that Shimbo notes can come across as a bit bitter. “The combination makes the flavor of the tuna fuller and the flavor of the cognac fuller,” says Shimbo. “It tames the wild energy.”

Meukow photo credit Hiroko Shimbo

Meukow VS with Yellowtail (Hamachi) Nigiri

This VS has bright but slightly fruitier and woodier flavors with hints of some star anise, and Shimbo finds it rounder and milder than some other young cognacs. She pairs it with yellowtail, which is sweet and has lots of umami and a rich texture because of its high fat content, which works well with the rounded, milder, but slightly spicy flavors. (Shimbo also squeezes a bit of lemon onto the fish to bring out its sweetness even further.)

"Sea bream sushi with Yuzu-fruit salt" by bvalium is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Jean-Luc Pasquet 4 with Sea Bream

Pasquet’s youngest Cognac offers lots of fresh fruit flavor with stone fruits, honey, and hints of cinnamon. (The Pasquets label their Cognacs with the exact number of years they are aged, rather than just the standard VS, VSOP, and XO labels.) Sommelier Oriane Chambon suggests freezing this cognac to draw out its fresh fruit flavors, which pair well with delicate sea bream.

Frapin photo credit Hiroko Shimbo

Frapin VSOP with Sea Urchin (Uni)

This cognac from a very large producer in Grande Champagne region has some bacon notes with cinnamon and a touch of leather, as well as a bit of spice, some rounded oak, and richer fruit aromas. Shimbo uses the sweet, round notes to bring out the uni’s natural sweetness, umami, and creaminess; it also offsets the slightly astringent notes from the alkaline solution that uni is treated with to preserve its texture. (“This is a brilliant pairing,” noted Star during their demonstration. “It tastes like you’re pouring honey on the uni.”)

Camus photo credit Hiroko Shimbo

Camus XO and Salmon (Sake) Nigiri

This aged cognac boasts a bright plum-like flavor with notes of mandarin orange and hints of passionfruit; it also has some briny notes from being produced just off the coast, on the island of Île de Ré. The combination, particularly the hints of acidity, works well with salmon, which is often lightly salt-cured and also has a sweet, buttery taste, which pairs well with the cognac’s round mouth feel.

Hardy photo credit Hiroko Shimbo

Cognac Hardy XO with Fatty Tuna (Chu-Toro) Nigiri

A round, complex cognac, the Hardy XO is a blend of cognacs of different vintages, including some that have aged as long as 50 years. The flavors offer a hint of violets, which usually only comes through in very old cognacs, passionfruit and citrus, and dried fruits. This pairs well with the melt-in-the-mouth fatty belly cut of the tuna, cutting through its oiliness and bringing out its sweetness.

"California roll sushi with ginger" by frankfarm is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Jean-Luc Pasquet 10 with California Rolls

Chambon suggests pairing this rounder, woodier Cognac with a more robust and complex style of sushi, like a California roll. The dried fruit and spice profile of the cognac, with hints of cedar, vanilla, and nougat, is robust enough to offset the roll’s varied textures and pairs well with the fattiness added by the avocado