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Fahrenheit 173 - Brandy

"I'm not an alcoholic, I'm an alcohologist"

Five VSOP Cognacs

 10 Oct 2011  

Croizet VSOP:
Dried fruits, raisins and orange marmalade on the nose - rather nice but a little heavy on the fruits. The palate is light and subtle. Almost bland at first but de­velops spices and a little oak. Spicy, oaky finish with vanilla, dried fruits and apricot marmalade but the oak dominates. At the end there's only dull oak left. Starts with a nice nose but goes downhill from there. (80 p)

Dupuy VSOP:
Fragrant nose with tropical fruits, apricot and passion fruit. Also notes of heather and honey. Quite sweet palate with citrus and toffee. A little rum-like. Also a note of mint and a little oak providing structure. Fairly oaky yet simple finish. All in all it's unusual and unusually sweet. It has fresh citrus fruits rather than dried fruits which is more common in Cognacs. Works best as an aperitif. (81 p)

Albert Jarraud VSOP:
Nice, fresh nose with vanilla, oak, citrus and mint. Nice palate - mild, bal­anced and complex. It's sweet with notes of orange, dried fruits and oak. De­velops more oak, also pepper. Rather nice finish with oak and gin­ger­bread. All in all nice, smooth and complex but a little lacking in character. It's also a little too sweet for my liking. (82 p)

Larsen VSOP:
Very nice nose with notes of oak, plums and caramelized sugar. The palate is mild and sweet, de­velops oak, spices and pepper­mint but also a slightly disturbing earthy note. A little lacking in bal­ance yet rather nice. Lovely finish though, with citrus, mint and oak. (84 p)

Meukow VSOP:
Nice, complex nose with oak, spices, gin­ger­bread, dried fruits (figs) and a hint of cheese. Fairly mild palate with oak and sweetness in a nice bal­ance. Notes of dried fruits, citrus and mint. Complex, rather nice. Nice finish - oaky, spicy and warming. (85 p)

I bought the first three Cognacs while visiting Finland a while back. I had never seen those brands before and now I realize why: they are the three worst VSOP:s I've tried. The Larsen was nice (Larsen is always nice, if unspectacular) and I found the Meukow much nicer than last time I tried it - makes me curious to try their higher-end bottlings.

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