I can’t think of a name more fitting for cognac than Conjure, a bottle of which I recently received. Mention of this booze tends to summon one of two very different (and equally cartoonish) images.

There’s the waspy dude in a smoking jacket, raising a snifter of amber liquid in toast to, say, cornering the world’s rhodium market. And there’s your young hip-hop mogul, celebrating a global hit song over drinks with 43 of his closest semi-clad female friends.

Conjure, a collaboration of Grammy-winning singer/actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges and the 122-year-old cognac house Birkedal Hartmann, falls squarely into the rhapsodic rapper’s column. Not that this just some Crunk Juice ingredient (For those who don’t remember, Crunk Juice was a blend of cognac and energy drinks such as Red Bull that rappers raved about in the mid-2000s).

It’s good hooch, with a fair amount of spice and hints of apples, though a little sweet for drinking straight, I think. But it’s a smooth drink on its own for those who like it. And at around $34 a bottle, it’s far less expensive than most cognacs. Oh, and when you look closely at the bottle, you’ll see those designs are really tiny images of naked women.

Now, I like cognac straight. But there’s a whole tradition – and one that’s blessedly being revived in bars around the country – of making cocktails with it. And they’re also perfect during the holidays, especially when the weather’s nippy.

This article appears in Dec 23-29, 2010.