Domaine Montreuil 15 (for Astor Wines)

Posted on October 3, 2023, 1:00 by My Annoying Opinions

I said in Sunday’s look ahead to the month on the blog that Twin Cities restaurant reports would be posted on Tuesdays as per usual, with booze reviews on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays as per usual—and here I am, just two days later, already a liar. I’m afraid I didn’t have the time on Sunday or Monday to resize the photographs from this weekend’s eating out, and so here is the second brandy review of the week. The series began yesterday with a very old Armagnac. It continues today with a considerably less old, though far from very young Calvados. I noted yesterday that it had been a long time since my last Armagnac review. The same is even more true of my last Calvados review: the last one was posted more than 7 years ago. That was a review of an excellent Michel Huard and in the comments on that review you can read a spirited argument with my old nemesis, Sku. As it happens, Sku was the source of the sample of the Calvados I am reviewing today, which was an exclusive for Astor Wines in New York. I can’t remember when he gave it to me, but I can tell you I am disappointed by how conventional the sample label he made for it is. I guess he sold out. Continue reading →

Glenfarclas 1989-2013, The Family Casks (for Astor Wines)

Posted on February 16, 2018, 1:00 by My Annoying Opinions

Glenfarclas’ “Family Casks” series of single cask releases has a very strong reputation among whisky geeks. Here in the US, we see very few of them and so when I saw that Astor Wine in New York City had one as an exclusive bottling, I picked up a bottle. Distilled in 1989 and bottle in 2013 this is either 23 or 24 years old. It cost a fair bit more than the standard 25 yo but I rationalized the purchase given the higher abv and the general reputation of the Family Cask line. Of course, that reputation is largely based on the sherry casks that form of the majority of the series, and this one—though it doesn’t say so on the label—is from a bourbon cask. Still, I was looking forward to opening it, which I did about a year ago for one of my local group’s tastings. While some in the group really liked it, a few of us were unconvinced: the nose was very nice but it seemed over-oaked on the palate. I’d hoped that time and air would fix a lot of that. Let’s see if that’s happened a year later with lots of air and time. Continue reading →

Lemorton 25 (Calvados)

Posted on August 3, 2016, 7:00 by My Annoying Opinions

I really enjoyed the Lemorton Réserve and so I am really looking forward to this much older iteration. Especially as in his wonderful book on Calvados (which, yet again, I recommend highly) Charles Neal has high praise for older Lemortons. Granted he is speaking of vintage releases from the 1970s but still. I am curious to see if this will be closer to its much younger sibling or to the 18 yo Bordelet-Beudin I reviewed last week. I quite liked that one but noted that it seemed in many ways to be closer to bourbon and wine cask-matured malt whisky than to younger Calvados (as always, note the caveat of my very limited Calvados exposure); it was also quite oak-driven. Will all that be even more true of this even older Calvados? Let’s see.