By Jonathan L. Wright
Reno Gazette-Journal

Call it crystal blue persuasion for a new generation of drinkers. Or just call it Hpnotiq, the trade name for this fruity, vodka-charged Cognac blend with the unearthly aquamarine hue.

In the hip-hop houses of the East Bronx and elsewhere, Hpnotiq is Gen-X and Gen-Y's new mixer of choice.

Bartenders have been sloshing Hpnotiq with rum and pineapple juice, sliding it into white tequila margaritas, and splashing it atop tall flutes of chilled bubbly.

Cognac - once the beverage province in corporate boardrooms and for retirees on the back nine - received a hot-youth injection in the 1990s thanks to its placement in rap and hip-hop videos. Black musicians adopted what had been the ultimate white man's drink - and a very white symbol of affluence and success.

A twentysomething guy in France brewed the first batch of Hpnotiq almost two years ago to capitalize on the American Cognac craze. Hpnotiq was an immediate hit - but production couldn't keep up with demand.

Heaven Hill Distilleries of Bardstown, Ky., acquired Hpnotiq in February. The new owners hope to duplicate the success of Alize Passion, a quasi-Hpnotiq fruit spirit popularized by the late rapper Tupac Shakur, and hope to move Hpnotiq into the ranks of Courvoisier, Hennessy and Remy Martin, Cognac's heavyweights.

So what's Hpnotiq's appeal?

The urban, street aura surrounding it is one reason. Rapper Lil' Kim, for instance, touted Hpnotiq on Last Call, Carson Daly's MTV late-night television show, although she called it "blue Hypnotize" by mistake.

Then there's the fruit factor.

"That gives it a refreshing edge," says Simon Brown, a Reno bartender.

Plus, all that fruit sugar fuels long nights on the dance floor - and, very possibly, a wicked hangover the next morning.

But for many Hpnotiq hounds, it is the beverage's jewel-like, turquoise, slightly opalescent blue that's most attractive.

It's a hue, they point out, that's a welcome change from the retina-searing blue of such drinks as Windex Cocktails or Papa Smurfs.

It's a blue, they add, so cool it's hot.

Information: www.hpnotiq.com