Best Brandy/Cognac?

[180gVinyl]

Jem,

Sainsbury's XO Grande Champagne at £17.99 for a 50cl bottle is worth seeking out

Waitrose have Frapin VSOP Grande Champagne at £30 (There's a branch in Lichfield, it may be worth giving them a bell)

Tesco and Asda have the reliable Remy Martin VSOP on offer at £22

Cheers

 

[sooper8]

Very helpful, many thanks...
Jem

 

[papapaer]

Hi!
The question is: are you going to drink it or just enjoy it? If you are going to drink brandy it doesn't matter much. And especially not if you're going to mix it with anything except water.
But if you are prepared to spend one or two hours with something extraordinary I can recommend that you look for any wood-aged brandy, cognac or rum that is not chill-filtered (cold filtered they call it in the US). Singlemalts that aren't chill-filtered is common but cognac and other wood-aged spirits are rare as rocking horse manure.
I had the fortune to listen to a Gordon Wright about one month ago and taste a few (seven) of his bottlings. I can't stand singlemalts but he also has one Calvados and one Armagnac in his product portfolio. The Armagnac is incredible. Sorry to say I don't think that it is possible to find it in the US but our UK friends can find retailers on Gordon's website:
http://www.alc-hem-ist.com/.
The best cognac I've ever tasted was a 1989 Borderies from Jean Grosperrin Vintage Cognac ”La Gabare Collection". Grosperrin is one of the very few that sells un-chill filtered cognac. Sorry to say I don't know if you can get it in the US but according to
his web-site http://www.lagabare.com/ there is one distributor in the US.
Another cognac that I know is available to US customer is Daniel Bouju. The one to look for is the Daniel Bouju Royal Brût de Fût 60%! I recommend you to drink "Fine a l'eau" - with water. It is wood-aged 15 years in new barrels (as far as I Know). And of course NOT chill-filtered. http://www.cognacnet.com/boujucognacs.htm
Cheers
Per

 

[iAkira]

the best ever is BRANDY CASAJUANA 100 AÑOS GRAN RESERVA, is a very old (100 years) brandy

 

[Obsessed]

There's another recent cognac thread, in which I posted the following earlier today. Enjoy!

I'd also recommend Delamain Pale & Dry XO, Hine VSOP (a great bargain and, IMHO, head and shoulders above other VSOP offereings), and the Maison Surrenne cognacs.

Also, I've found it better to stay away from the huge snifters, which concentrate the alcohol vapors too much and detract from the flavor.

 

[arghblech]

I'm going to throw this out there even though I may take some abuse for it...

I was given a bottle ofthis about 10 years ago. For $ 150-200 it was a fantastic bottle. I had several of my more experienced cognac drinking friends try it blind. Everyone raved about it. They raved until they saw it was a "new" brand

I haven't had any recently but I'd recommend giving it a shot. The story of it is fairly interesting too.

 

[txengineer]

I'm a longtime fan of cognac and armagnac. I've had one truly extraordinary glass - Louis XIII.

I was sitting at an out-of-the-way bar on a cruise ship back in 2003, and ordered a snifter. 64 bucks if I remember correctly. What a treat. Then Ben Vereen sat down next to me. Having watched him on television countless times as a kid, I offered to buy him one too. He declined, but asked the bartendress if he could sniff the glass!

A reliably good brand is Cles des Ducs armagnac. Thanks for bringing back a great memory.

 

[professorchaos]

I'm going to throw this out there even though I may take some abuse for it...

I was given a bottle ofthis about 10 years ago. For $ 150-200 it was a fantastic bottle. I had several of my more experienced cognac drinking friends try it blind. Everyone raved about it. They raved until they saw it was a "new" brand

I haven't had any recently but I'd recommend giving it a shot. The story of it is fairly interesting too.

Nothing wrong with Kelt either! I am working my way through a bottle this winter.

 

[beautifull]

The best cognac to me is Landy...the XO is really smooth.

 

[guitarslinger]

Personally, I USUSALLY only use brandy/cognac for cocktails (sidecars)

I won't use anything better OR worse than a mainstream VS.

Courvousier
Hennessy (my go to)
Remy Martin
Martell

they all work well in cocktails. Anything better would be a waste IMO.

 

[houstonironman]

Pierre Ferrand Amber Cru is an excellent Cognac IMO. Great value for the money. The Amber Cru is the least expensive bottle in their line and I like it the best. I also like it better than other, more expensive, cognacs I've tried.

 

[Luc]

Mmm, Great choices here.

I am a big fan of Tennessee whiskey. I used to drink Courvoisier VSOP quite a lot but never by itself. Lately, I've started to buy more expensive bottles and drink the spirit by itself (no water, no tonic, no ice, no lemon, no nothing). I came across a couple of Whiskey that I just love, other I don't. I am starting to realise that Scotch isn't for me.

However, I remember how Courvoisier was, I also tried Hennessy and Martell. I was not impressed by those two. I mean they were good but nothing to make me run to the bottle shop. I never tried Courvoisier XO and maybe I should. I like a smooth drink.

I tried Armagnac in the past and found it too harsh. I also tried Spanish Brandy, too sweet. Maybe it was that one bottle only, I don't know. I like the vanilla, smoke, barrel taste when I drink those, if it make sense...

So, Remy Martin or Courvoisier could be good candidates I guess, which would you recommend?

p.s. Great thread so far!

 

[TinFish]

Being a Greek, I have to push 7 Star Metaxa. Very nice, smooth, and.....Greek.

 

[Laz]

As far as the easy to obtain categories go:

• Courvousier
• Hennessy
• Remy Martin

I find that paying for the VSOP has been worth the extra cost. I will attempt to hunt down some of the harder to find brands mentioned here. I love cognac with a cigar.

 

[Walter Sobchak]

A little gem of a brandy that I love is Jepson's Old Stock from Mendocino County. It's a single varietal (100% Colombard) Alambic, and it's very nice at $50/bottle. Their 12y/o "Rare" is a little rough for me to enjoy neat at $35/bottle, and the "Signature Reserve" at $100/bottle doesn't deliver like the "Old Stock" does. Not for my tastebuds anyway.

I don't know if Jaxon Keys intends to keep the line. I hope so, because it's truly a brandy that can compete with the some of the finer Cognacs/Armagnacs I've tried.

Anyone here had Jepson Brandy? It's hard to get on the East Coast. I grabbed some straight from their tasting room in Ukiah when I was out there a few years ago. I have one bottle right now and I'm afraid when it's gone I won't be able to find it again.

 

[blantyre]

Fundador is a good value, very pleasant brandy from Spain.
Pierre Ferrand Selection des Anges is an excellent higher end Cognac.

 

[dcampen]

I like cognac and used to enjoy VSOP grades of Courvoisier, Hennesy and Remy-Martin. Recently though I bought some Hine Antique and now I think of the VSOP grade cognacs that I formerly enjoyed as "cheap, mass market stuff".

So now my latest passion will be collecting and evaluating premium brandies.

I just bought a bottle of Delord 25 year aged Armagnac and that is pretty good.

I bought a bottle of Remy VSOP to use as my low end benchmark in tastings but now I find it to be to low end. I am considering purchase of a bottle of Hine VSOP to see if that would be a good low end benchmark.

I hope to acquire some Germain-Robin XO brandy, Maison Surrene XO Cognac and some 15-30 year aged Armagnacs. Any suggestions?

 

[Laz]

I like cognac and used to enjoy VSOP grades of Courvoisier, Hennesy and Remy-Martin. Recently though I bought some Hine Antique and now I think of the VSOP grade cognacs that I formerly enjoyed as "cheap, mass market stuff".

So now my latest passion will be collecting and evaluating premium brandies.

I just bought a bottle of Delord 25 year aged Armagnac and that is pretty good.

I bought a bottle of Remy VSOP to use as my low end benchmark in tastings but now I find it to be to low end. I am considering purchase of a bottle of Hine VSOP to see if that would be a good low end benchmark.

I hope to acquire some Germain-Robin XO brandy, Maison Surrene XO Cognac and some 15-30 year aged Armagnacs. Any suggestions?

I haven't been disappointed with anything from Germain-Robin. I am sure that you will enjoy their XO.

 

[The Knize]

+1 for Kelt. I agree that most mass market VSOP is pretty mundane, but I think Kelt VSOP is step above. The XO really good.

I like Armagnacs as much or more than Cognacs, and they seem to generally be a better deal at any particular price point. Harder to figure out and shop for, though.

 

[Obsessed]

I like Armagnacs as much or more than Cognacs, and they seem to generally be a better deal at any particular price point. Harder to figure out and shop for, though.

+1 A really good armagnac is unbelievably good. We received a nice bottle as a gift a while back and everyone we've shared it with has been really impressed.

I've fond that with brandy in general, the difference between good and bad is far more vast than with most spirits. The good stuff is sublime, and the bad stuff is turpentine. Unfortunately, I think that goes double for armagnac, and cstrother is right that it is much harder to figure out, at least for me.