Tasting Aged French Brandy
We always have brandy around for cooking, but I've never paid much attention to the details until now
I’ve made a lot of cocktails with aged brandy. And many have been quite good! Though I haven’t generally written about them for some reason…
Probably because I’ve never really paid too much attention to the juice aside from getting whatever looks right at the store whenever I run out. And I always need a bottle because we use it a decent amount for cooking.
So, if there’s always a bottle around, it’s in the home bar. And if it’s in the home bar, I should care more about it!
With that in mind, I grabbed a few mid-price, generally-available French aged brandies and have started my tasting process to determine which sticks around. I acknowledge that no mid-price, generally available expression is going to be amazing - this is a category where it takes real money (and even then, a lot of searching) to get to the pinnacle of the art. Someday I’m sure I’ll dive in deeper and have a trophy bottle around, but not today.
Today, I taste these mid-tier-at-best expressions neat. Later, cocktails!
Terminology Primer
Very quickly before we jump in, because this stuff is confusing, a reminder on what we’re talking about when we talk about brandy (and aged French brandy specifically)
Brandy - any spirt distilled from any fermented fruit juice (including Grappa and Kirsch which I’ve written quite a bit about previously)
Cognac - distilled juice of Ugni Blanc (primarily, usually) made in Cognac France in copper pot stills and aged in French oak barrels (and remember its half of what’s in a bottle of Grand Marnier)
Armagnac - distilled grape juice (still often Ugni Blanc) made in Armagnac France in column stills and aged in French oak barrels
Calvados - distilled apple juice (occasionally pear instead) made in Normandy France in any kind of still and aged in any kind of oak barrel (and I’ve written a little bit more about this category before too)
VS - French brandy distinction indicating that the youngest juice in the blend is at least 2 years old
VSOP - French brandy distinction indicating that the youngest juice in the blend is at least 4 years old
XO - French brandy distinction indicating that the youngest juice in the blend is at least 10 years old
Quick note on the tasting links here: they’re all over the place. With one exception, there aren’t brand sites here. The industry is so dominated by the huge players that I’m not interested in that no one else puts any effort into anything that isn’t production and distribution…
ABK6 VSOP Cognac
The lone brand site, with very little English to be found, and a Cognac I’ve had around before. The brand says to expect a woody nose, and I certainly got that. I also got a lot of vanilla, and not a lot of grape musk (which seems to translate on this site to “fruit paste”). The vanilla came through even more strongly on the palate, and combined with the wood it really tastes initially like a slightly-too-sweet bourbon. The musk comes through strong on the finish, and to me it all ends up just a little clumsy. I never got the detailed spices the brand calls out.
Le Reviseur VSOP Single Estate Cognac
Total Wine’s private label in the US that they’re always promoting and I have tended to buy (and shares overall ownership with ABK6, turns out). I get a lot of grape on the nose, and I can tell there’s age though it’s hard to say I smell wood. The palate is very grape-sweet as well, and again the age is there but not prominent. The musk almost never comes through and instead is highlighted as a high tartness on the palate. Overall, very much what my brain conjures when I think “aged boozy grape juice” and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
Berneroy VSOP Calvados
A Calvados that’s relatively easy to find (and, frankly, the only one here in Phoenix as best I can tell). It starts almost more like a traditional schnapps, with a high-ester nose obscuring the fruit. But the cider apple is there, and on the palate it’s crisp and light. Again, it’s hard to taste the age here, but it’s certainly more mellow and much sweeter than the schnapps it may smell like. My best descriptor is that this may be what happened if you booze-ified the green apple caramel Halloween suckers. Again, I don’t think that’s a bad thing!
A. de Fussigny Selection Cognac
I got suckered in by the very strange title and the very small plastic bottle - neither of which felt very French. I get a ton of grape musk on the nose, which I understand is something that connoisseurs are often looking for but still puts me off a bit. But that gives way quickly on the palate to juice and spice, and it finishes quite clean. It’s unique and interesting, but I’m not sure it’s good.
Takeaways
I’ve long been a sucker for apple-based drinks, and this Calvados is no exception. I’m excited to keep tasting it. But, I don’t think it would achieve what Cognac achieves in cooking and this bottle really does need to serve both purposes.
So, of the Cognacs, I think the A. de Fussigny is out for me - it’s just a bit too basic. That means it’s between the ABK6 and Reviseur, and it’ll take testing them in cocktails to determine which sticks around.