Chateau de Lacquy 12yo

Chateau de Lacquy 12yo

Brandy: Armagnac
From: Bas Armagnac
House: Chateau de Lacquy
Style: Single distillery
Colour: Amber brown
ABV: 40%

N: milk, raisins, vanilla, desiccated coconut, hints of damson jam.

M: Light body, loose, airy, astringent.

T: Sweet sour. Raisins, vanilla, damson jam, prune juice, hints of ume, hints of violets.

F: Short. Black tea, cocoa powder, prune juice, damson jam, hints of fresh baked bread.

Comments:

Right, this is my third Chateau de Lacquy, and I believe that I can start to discern the house character. There's something jammy, something savoury (here it manifests as desiccated coconut, and maybe a little bit of Japanese ume, or salted plum), alongside the usual floral, prune notes one can find in most armagnacs. This expression also has something bitter though, like dark chocolate, and black tea, compared to the other two I've tasted.

So how many expressions does one need to taste before one knows a distilery, or a house? I think the answer is, a lot. A good producer will be able to make many subtly different, interesting expressions, whilst retaining most of the house character. On average, for whisky, I reckon I need to taste about 8 to 10 expressions before I learn to recognise the distillery character. For brandy though, most houses don't produce that many expressions!

Verdict:

I like this.

Dupont 20yo

Dupont 20yo

Brandy: Calvados
From: Pays d'Auge
House: Dupont
Style: Single distillery
Colour: Amber
ABV: 42%

N: dried apples, peaches, strawberry jam, honey, shortcrust pastry, hints of cloves.

M: Light body, loose, cool, slightly astringent.

T: Bitter sweet. Dark chocolate, strawberry jam, cloves, raisins, hints of coffee.

F: Long. Peaches, dried apples, shortcrust pastry, coffee, raisins.

Comments:

Wow. This is apple pie Calvados, mimicking the flavour profile almost perfectly - apples, cloves, pastry. Of course, there's plenty of other stuff in here too, raisins, chocolate, coffee, and some sort of red fruit jam, mostly strawberry.

I think I'm beginning to be able to distinguish between Calvados houses. I've had a few well-aged expressions, and I shall gravitate towards the younger ones for a little while now. Well-aged brown spirits tend to deepen and intensify in flavour, and it will be interesting to see what the younger ones are like.

Verdict:

I like this.

KWV Imoya VSOP Cape Brandy

KWV Imoya VSOP Cape Brandy

Brandy: Cape Brandy
From: Paarl
House: KWV
Style: Single distillery, single vintage
Colour: Amber
ABV: 40%

N: red grapes, nutmeg, leather, tobacco leaf, honey, raisins.

M: Heavy body, syrupy, cool, round.

T: Sweet. Raisins, molasses, tobacco leaf, honey, black tea, brown paper, hints of fresh baked bread.

F: Medium. Molasses, fresh baked bread, honey, hints of black tea

Comments:

So it stands to reason you make brandy in South Africa, after all they grow grapes, they make wine. How hard is it to distill the wine? Well, quite hard, if you listen to French brandy makers. Cognac and armagnac are made from poor-quality wine, that is, wine that you wouldn't drink, but that you can concentrate and age. Nevertheless, I've found brandy from wine-makers to be rather excellent, from Penfolds in Australia to the sherry brandy by the sherry bodega Romate. This one, Imoya from KWV, made from distillates of up to 20 years old, is another one on that list.

Firstly, it's heavy and round for a brandy, with prominent legs. It's sweet, but there's an alluring undertone of other things that aren't so sweet - leather, tobacco, and even molasses - and this adds complexity. There's spice as well, and a cereally note on the tongue. It all fades to a bitter sweet finish.

So Cape Brandy from South Africa goes on the list of things to try more of. I must say that list is getting rather long, must make a dent in that before I go to try tequila...

Verdict:

I like this a lot.

Roger Groult 12yo

Roger Groult 12yo

Brandy: Calvados
From: Pays d'Auge
House: Roger Groult
Style: Single distillery
Colour: Copper
ABV: 41%

N: Candied oranges, apple juice, raisins, fruitcake, aluminium foil, hints of fresh baked bread.

M: Light body, airy, cool, evaporates quickly.

T: Sweet sour. Candied oranges, nutmeg, fresh baked bread, apple juice, hints of cinnamon, hints of cocoa nibs.

F: Medium. Cocoa nibs, apple juice, nutmeg, hints of black tea.

Comments:

All apple Calvados, young-ish. It's got less of that dried apple flavour, here it's milder, like apple juice. This brandy is spicy, cinnamon, nutmeg, and candied oranges. There's a spiky bitter flavour on the edge of the tongue, and in the finish as well, I interpret this as cocoa nibs, and maybe some tannins too.

I think I'm starting to find out what I like about Calvados. Whilst the apple and pear base flavours and lovely, and enjoyable, I much prefer the more complex spirits with more layers underneath the fruit. This one is a good case in point - there's plenty of fruit of course, candied oranges and raisins are particularly prominent next to the apples - but there's also a layer of bitter spice underneath that, a slightly harsh sharp bitterness that reminds me of biting into unsweetened cocoa nibs. Very interesting indeed.

Verdict:

I like this.

Didier Lemorton Rarete

Didier Lemorton Rarete

Brandy: Calvados
From: Domfrontais
House: Didier Lemorton
Style: Single distillery
Colour: Walnut
ABV: 40%

N: Pear drops, cinnamon, dried apples, lime zest, acacia honey, hints of jasmine.

M: Medium body, warm, slippery, airy.

T: Bitter sour. Cinnamon, dried apples, dried pears, jasmine, lime juice, leather, hints of linseed oil.

F: Medium. Dried apples, dried pears, linseed oil, jasmine, hints of fresh baked bread.

Comments:

One of the very best expressions from this distillery, the spirit is a blend of very old eaux-de-vie, some of which are reportedly more than 100 years old. The colour is certainly impressive, dark walnut with hints of bronze highlights. The nose is classic Calvados, apples and pears, in this case mostly dried. On the tongue, I was surprised - it's not sweet at all, but bitter and tart, highly complex, with a dry, slightly dusty set of fruity flavours. There's even some leather, and an acrid note of linseed oil. It's not at all unpleasant, it's unusual, and it's not like other Calvadoses.

What is it with old spirits? They get more and more complex, picking up more of the wood they are resting in, losing some of the notes from their spirit base. There's a sweet spot where they're super complex and layered, lots of interesting flavours, which can only be unlocked by drinking slowly. Then after an even longer while, they pick up notes of leather, oil and dust, dried fruit and rancio, and start to taste like other old spirits. I've found this with whisky, armagnac, cognac and now Calvados. The age at which a spirit reaches this stage varies though, certainly you need something distilled more than 50 years ago, and hopefully aged in wood for most of that time.

Verdict:

I like this a lot.

Lot 1990 Pot Distilled Single Batch Brandy

Lot 1990 Pot Distilled Single Batch Brandy

Brandy: Australian Brandy
From: South Australia
House: Penfolds
Style: Single distillery, single vintage
Colour: Rose
ABV: 42%

N: Raisins, strawberries, marmalade, magic marker, coconut water, leather, hints of toasted coconut.

M: Medium body, cool, turns syrupy, slightly numbing.

T: Bitter sweet. Raisins, marmalade, palm sugar, fresh baked bread, black tea, hints of leather.

F: Short. Coconut water, palm sugar, raisins, fresh baked bread.

Comments:

Vat B271, date in wood 18/04/1990.

This brandy is roughly 28 years old, and has been aged in three types of fortified wine casks. It's got plenty of the usual brandy flavours - raisins and marmalade are particularly prominent - but it's got a cereally edge to it, alongside coconut water on the nose. The latter intensifies to slightly bitter, rich palm sugar on the tongue, and makes tasting this spirit a very interesting experience.

I never knew Penfolds made brandy. It turns out that this is very much an experiment, being the results of a distillation run nearly three decades ago. It's part of the Penfolds Special Bottlings series (another expression is a red wine fortified with baijiu), so I expect that it's unlikely to be repeated.

Now I try not to think too much about price when evaluating spirits. A drink is worth whatever people wish to pay for it, although some quality drinking experiences may be had for a lot less than certain other quality drinking experiences, and some dearly priced drinking experiences are not altogether pleasant. But I was extremely surprised when I found this brandy for a fraction of the price of a Penfolds Grange 1990 red wine. Granted the distiller (and wood master) may be less experienced, but the underlying fermentation and grapes are the same.

What does this show? Well, I'm not sure. All I can say is that I'd rather drink the brandy than the wine, it's nearly as good, and more easily available.

Verdict:

I like this a lot

Badel Hrvatska Stara Sljivovica

Badel Hrvatska Stara Sljivovica

Brandy: Slivovitz
From: Croatia proper
House: Badel 1862
Style: Single distillery
Colour: Straw
ABV: 40%

N: damson jam, prune juice, bubble gum, purple corn, dried pineapples, cloves, hints of nutmeg.

M: light body, slippery, astringent, tingly.

T: Sweet sour. Purple corn, dried pineapples, plums, creme fraiche, hints of green tea.

F: Medium. Green tea, bitter almonds, bubble gum, hints of vanilla.

Comments:

Never had slivovitz before I stepped into Croatia, but I thought, why not? It's eaux-de-vie, maybe not aged as long as grape or apple distillate, but drink as widely as one can, I always say. So I snagged a little sample of Badel sljivovica, as they call it in Croatia. It's been aged about 4 years in Slavonian oak, so it doesn't quite look like firewater, instead taking on a straw colour.

It's essence of plum alright, but exaggeratedly so, almost bubble gummy. There's purple corn and pineapples, reminding me of nothing so much as chicha morada, that Peruvian thirst quencher. On the tongue, there's also something fermented, like creme fraiche, which I like as it introduces complexity and spikes the sweetness a bit. On the finish, one can taste the bitter almonds that must come from the cracked plum pits during fermentation.

Makes me wonder what could be achieved if it were aged a bit more than 4 years. That would probably mellow out the sweetness, and create something more complex and even more flavourful. Come on Badel, give it a go!

Verdict:

I like this.

Cardenal Mendoza Carta Real

Cardenal Mendoza Carta Real

Brandy: Brandy de Jerez
From: Jerez
House: Sanchez Romate
Style: Single distillery
Colour: Mahogany
ABV: 40%

N: Red grapes, rum and raisin ice cream, walnut wood, date honey, dried apricots, hints of dark chocolate.

M: Heavy body, sticky, thickens, round.

T: Sweet. Prunes, date honey, raisins, cloves, walnut wood, walnut skins, hints of tobacco leaf.

F: Long. Walnut skins, prunes, date honey, dried apricots, dark chocolate.

Comments:

Right, my first venture outside France, in terms of brandy, at least. This is solera aged, with an average age of between 25 and 30 years old, so there's some very, very old stuff in this spirit. It's gloriously sweet, as befits a sherry brandy, and it's also rich and sticky, and round. The last is how I best describe this feeling I get when I smack my lips after wetting them with the brandy - somehow unctuous and lip-coating, as if my pursed lips were rounder.

Sweet flavours abound, of course, but on the nose and on the tongue, there are also some woody notes, and these turn bitter. There's dark chocolate too, accentuating the bitterness, and herbaceous tobacco. In fact, as I smell the empty glass, the woody and herbal notes predominate, becoming almost cedar like. All that fades to a long, bittersweet finish.

Yes, I really do like sherry brandy, despite the fact that sweet spirits aren't usually my thing. I like sweet flavours, like fruit and flowers, but I don't like them to taste sweet, as a rule. But this, well, this is an exception. Highly sugared, with deep layers of flavour, it's wonderful brandy.

Verdict:

Magnificent.