Been wandering my way through a bottle of the K&L Baraillon 10 armagnac, which is goddamn wonderful. A ton of big flavor but very little sweetness, earthy, acidic character that keeps it in check. Nose is very forest after a rainstorm, damp earth sort of thing. K&L is all rustic-this-rustic-that but real talk the first thing we said when we popped the cork was goddamn, this is rustic as fuck. I think I'm going back for another bottle when this one is done.

I get a little tired of hearing about K&L's exclusives, man. The trials and tribulations of small town life, I suppose. Let's see, lots of good stuff out there. One day at lunch I felt like getting out so I went up into the mountains in search of a liquor store I heard had a great Scotch selection, hoping that they might also have a good brandy selection. They had a bottle of A. de Fussigny Sélection (VSOP grade) Cognac for $30 (the XO was around $70), which seemed suspicious as it's a lovely looking bottle. I asked the owner and he said he likes it a lot, good purity and length, so I grabbed it. It's nice stuff, seems pure enough, a little sweet, super smooth, long finish, fruit but with plenty of age it seems with spicyness and tobacco flavors. Anyway, for the price it's a steal. Really responds to being warmed for a few minutes in your hand.Maison Surrenne ($46, imported by Craft Distillers, makers of Germain-Robin) is really lovely Cognac. Beautiful color, decent length, and it has a really killer pipe tobacco or clove cigarette type flavor, with a slight bit of mint..and has some evidence of fruit. Just wonderful stuff.I made some brandy punch (as recommended by Antero) for our little end of the season party at the pumpkin patch using Felipe II Brandy de Jerez ($20) as the base, not before I sampled it straight. Not so "barrelly" like the Torres 10-Year, the only other Spanish brandy I've had. Fruity, up front and a nice oakiness and no smoke. I liked it well enough but think I'm just not so into Spanish brandy. I also used the tail end of a bottle of Leopold Gourmel 6 Carats Cognac ($40) for the punch, which I didn't like at all straight. I prefer brandy straight.Found some Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac ($32) at a shop I recently learned about. My friend told me it was pretty good so I picked it up. Nice stuff for the price, good fruit, soft up front, smooth, nice finish.Our friend who works for us at the pumpkin patch, the one who recently converted to brandy from Bourbon, tried some of the A. de Fussigny and Osocalis one night after only having the Camus VS for a couple of weeks. Her response was "Mmm, it's like a romance in my mouth." I think that's a wonderful description of the experience.dabrasha wrote:Use a proper snifter, a snifter with a base almost as wide as your entire hand, not one that you can cradle in your fingers.I was skeptical the difference would be that dramatic but these glasses make brandy even more enjoyable, removing most of the alcohol burn on the nose and enhancing everything else. Strongly recommended.

Recently wrote this and have to amend it:enframed wrote:Found some Pierre Ferrand Ambre Cognac ($32) at a shop I recently learned about. My friend told me it was pretty good so I picked it up. Nice stuff for the price, good fruit, soft up front, smooth, nice finish.This stuff is OK as long as you don't have too much, it's hangover city, and my friend confirmed this as well. If you can swing a few more dollars there's way better quality, it seems to me. Antero wrote:I use a Glencairn glass usually.Totally, we have a couple of The Arran whisky glasses from a gift set that also work way better than a snifter.

Seems a little gimmicky to me? It's not like it's spending all its time near the ocean, like some of those Scotch malts, and the barrels aren't intensely charred like bourbon barrels. Two months in the lifespan of a cognac ain't a goddamn thing, either.But, you know, I can't imagine it would make it taste worse.

Picked a up a bottle of Prunier VSOP after reading it was a "good value" from a reputable source. It's nice stuff, not a long finish but in addition to the fruitiness it's got some age to it: mint, maybe a little tobacco. For the price I'd probably get Germain-Robin or Maison Surrenne though.Some place near me has some bottle of Tesseron, which I hear is good, and also has Kelt, which upon first learning sounded like a total gimmick, but upon later reflection sounds like the dude may be on to something. Get this, at some point during the aging process, IIRC, two months before bottling, the barrels are put on a ship and set out to sea for two months. Something about the sea air (location can matter) and gentle rocking (more brandy coming into contact with wood over a short period of time) helping the aging process. The latter seems like the same theory behind Laphroaig's "quarter cask." Anyway, I'm sold, and will probably grab a bottle soon.

The sea air for such a short time may indeed be gimmick. Oh, and it's three months, not two. Laphroaig puts their whisky in stationary quarter casks for seven months after five years in regular barrels to add some "age" in less time. This Cognac is being gently agitated pretty much continuously for three months on top of probably 10+ years in stationary barrels. Sounds like more than just hocus pocus.

Brought home some DeLord Napoleon Bas Armagnac last week. It's good for the price ($35). Not very complex, not a lot of length, but what's there is nice for how long it sticks around. Figured it'd be a good mixer. Then last night a friend texted me a menu (with ingredient list, not ratios) from bar in southern California that makes "old fashioned cocktails," one of which is a "Luxardo Cognac Old Fashioned." Well that sounds pretty nice. So I made a couple after dinner for Mrs. E and me to share.First one I used all ingredients listed, substituting the DeLord Napoleon for Cognac. The ingredients were:45ml Armaganc15ml Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur3 dashes Peychaud's Bitters3 dashes Orange Bitters 1 sugar cubeOrange slice garnishDefinitely was good, but a bit too sweet. Forgot how overpowering Luxardo can be.Second one contained:60 ml Chateau de Pellehaut Blanche D'Armagnac10ml Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur2 dashes of each bitters Orange slice garnishOmitted the sugar altogether.Fucking outstanding. That Blanche D'Armagnac is really nice for mixed drinks.

My wife and I recently spent a few hours with the distiller at Osocalis in Soquel, CA. He creates brandies essentially the way as are Cognac/Calvados: double distilled in a Charentais copper pot still and aged in French Limousin or Troncais oak. Grapes are all from central/northern California with much coming from the more local vineyards. The Pippin apples were all from a single grower in the Corralitos/Watsonville area. Wine & cider are prepared by Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard. Learned a lot about Osocalis, brandy, and spirits in general. Very enlightening, entertaining, and delicious. Got to taste the following brandies from single varietals to be used later for blending the XO, and some apple brandy, all right out the barrels. Here's what I remember:16 year Chenin blanc (60% abv)18 year Colombard 25 year Pinot noir (44+% abv)22 year apple brandy from 100% Hauer Pippins.The Chenin blanc, Pinot noir, and apple brandies were goddamn fucking incredible. The Pinot noir was fantastically elegant and deep, lots of rancio but still rich with fruit. The Chenin blanc was just ridiculous and I was taken aback: a burst of fruit with a nice amount of rancio, at once fiery and completely smooth even at 60%, and not a whole lot of length but long enough to be satisfying, like the best short fuck you ever had. We were sent away with an aperitif of a blend of brandy and juice both from Viognier grapes.Was a very fun time.If you have the opportunity to try the XO from Osocalis, do take it. Apparently, it went up against Delamain Pale & Dry XO and Germain-Robin XO in a blind taste test and fared very well against both. Sort of apples to oranges, but still...

Got some Le Reviseur VSOP Cognac (40%) and like it a lot. It's from Petite Champagne, no indication of age anywhere I can see but definitely expresses some rancio: tobacco, leatheriness, but also some fruit. It also shows a very slight flavor of, and I feel ridiculous saying this, but gumball, or like the Topps gum that used to come with baseball cards in the US 70s-80s, early in the finish. Anyway, very light in mouth but flavorful as well. Seems pretty pure.

Had to work an even last night in a small town way up in the mountains. I use these little ventures as opportunities to find odd things, which I certainly did yesterday.RMS is Rémy Martin Schramsberg, and this bottle is one of the last examples of Rémy Martin's failed attempts to get into brandy in America, using wine produced by Schramsberg Vineyards in Napa. It's Cognac style brandy using CA grapes. Distilled in 1982 and maybe 1983, this was bottled in probably 1998 (label says 14 years), and has been on the shelf for years. The guy at the counter was kind of tripping out he had it, and that it doesn't have a bar code.