This article first appeared in Capital, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 15, 2024 - January 21, 2024

It was sometime in May of 1992 in a bar called Colors Fun Pub and KTV (what a cheesy name) in Damansara Utama that a French gentleman walked in and asked the barman — in his early twenties and clad in a black Colors Fun Pub and KTV T-shirt that was one size too big — in his French accent and all, “Zu you ave ze Kawv-waa-zee-ay?”

The barman, pretty busy cutting garnishes, looked at the bespectacled Frenchman and said a quick “no”, before turning his attention back to slicing lime spirals for the later part of the night when things would get really busy. Yes, despite the cheesy name, it was quite a happening bar in those days, and in stiff competition with Party Box (sic) as the top bar in Damansara Utama. To attract more patrons, Colors served free chicken curry with bread on Thursdays … can you beat that? We, the staff, ate most of it …

Okay, okay, okay … back to the Frenchman. In shock, he asked, “Zhen what is zaht?”, pointing to a bottle of Courvoisier cognac. The barman replied, ­“Currrvvoiissserrr,” to which the shocked Frenchman almost shouted, “Non, non, non.” Leaning forward, he said, ­“Kawv-waa-zee-ay … it’s pronounced Kawv-waa-zee-ay. Very, very good cognac, get it right.”

Cognac back then was not doing too well, as it was perceived as an old man’s drink. It was neither trendy nor popular and did not sell very well — only moving when used in cocktails such as the overly strong graveyard and the pinkish-coloured AK-47 that tasted like toxic waste. Other than in a handful of bars and clubs that catered for older Chinese drinkers, brandy hardly came off the shelf.

Then, some 10 years later, a rapper named Trevor George Smith Jr — or more popularly known as Busta Rhymes — came out with the song Pass the Courvoisier. A year later, a sequel was released — Pass the Courvoisier II — which really made sales of the brandy skyrocket.

And Courvoisier and other cognacs were in vogue again, just like that.

In fact, in an interview with none other than Forbes, Courvoisier vice-president of marketing Debra Eyerly said, “We made Courvoisier the cognac of hip-hop.”

Sales of other cognacs such as Hennessy, Martell and Remy Martin (which, with Courvoisier, make up the “big four”) also gained momentum.

Take a step back and think about it: The perception of a drink can change from being a starchy old man’s favourite to being cool just from rappers endorsing it.

Cognac or Armagnac, we would imagine, is taken as a digestif after makan malam with a strong, maybe, Cuban cigar by old white men with stiff upper lips and names such as Percy Pembleton Worcestershire or Winston Tipton Higginbottom, or something equally dry and English, with some classical music playing in the background — a harp or something.

In stark contrast are the likes of Busta Rhymes; Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr, known professionally as Snoop Dogg; or even Curtis James Jackson III, better known as 50 Cent (not 50 sen ya), in singlet and jeans, with their posse — some with grillz encrusted with diamonds — and scantily clad groupies twerking away.

Whether the rappers and their groupies know the difference between Courvoisier, Remy Martin, Martell or Hennessy and, say, some locally brewed Tali Merah brand, is anyone’s guess. Come to think of it, after the third or fourth glass, maybe Pembleton Worcestershire and Tipton Higginbottom may not know the difference and may not even care.

Anyway, late last year, when Campari Group sought to acquire Courvoisier from Beam Suntory, there was some excitement from one small, messy part of The Edge’s office. Courvoisier was pegged with an enterprise value of US$1.32 billion and a purchase price of US$1.2 billion. Courvoisier’s net sales in 2022 was US$249 million, with about 60% coming from the US.

Beam Suntory, it seems, is betting on Courvoisier becoming a “global icon of luxury”. With a name like Kawv-waa-zee-ay, it should be nothing if not luxurious. If it were Currrvvoiissserrr, perhaps not.

Any chance we could get the rappers to promote any of our companies? But after the fiasco with Captain Speedy and the locally brewed Timah, perhaps not.

Then, three weeks ago, the barman who had called Kawv-waa-zee-ay Currrvvoiissserrr, and who is now a journalist, went up to a barkeep in a swanky club in downtown KL and asked, “Do you by any chance have Kawv-waa-zee-ay, my good man?” And the barkeep, a foreigner, replied in a cool composed manner, “Eessss,” and asked, “VSOP or XO, sir?”

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