Tasting Notes Rated: 10

Rating 10/ 10
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Lous Pibous 2004 Cask#196 56% for L´Encantada

Nose: Oh wow this has a real rummy funk, with gobs of red raspberry jam, crazy oily meatiness, and vanilla bean yogurt. What in the world is this going to taste like?!

Palate: Hits so sweet and simply explodes on the palate with thick caramel, black cherries, and toasted almonds. Spicy with candied ginger and black pepper. The savory notes of coriander seed, congealed duck blood, and Texas hickory smoke. I’ve never tasted anything like this. Finish is sweet caramel, oak, camphor, and more of those black cherries.

Rating: 10 / 10 – This is one of many 2004 LPs out there, so that vintage must’ve been a bumper Folle Blanche crop for some reason. But this one was special, being picked quite early, after just 13 years in oak, and has developed a legendary status. Straight sweet, rich deliciousness. Is it too sweet? Too rich? Too easy to enjoy? I don’t care. This may be my all-time favorite cask from my all-time favorite producer, and it will haunt me forever, especially knowing I’ll likely never taste it again.

Rating 10/ 10
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 Lous Pibous  1996 “Paul’s Pick” Cask #151, 56.2% for L’Encantada

Nose: Oh yes, it has everything!  Earthy forest floor and wet wood. Ripe fresh strawberries & cream. Funky oily beef, dark hot cocoa, faint herbal mint. What a nose.

Palate:  Robust oaky and fruity attack, with dark caramel, sawdust, red apple skin, forest floor & mushrooms, tobacco, black pepper, and a strangely effervescent, Jamaican ginger beer tingle. Appropriately Gascon – rough and rustic. Finish has orange pith, brown butter, ginger, Saltines, licorice. On and on…

Rating: 10 / 10 – An early Pibous cask, privately picked and treasured by those lucky few who acquired one. Think of these old Pibous releases as akin to the Willett “C” series of brandy. In full disclosure, the first night I tried this the roughness grated on me. And I do feel like the tannins are a little harsh in this one. But tonight side by side with 124, I like this even more than the other. It’s got the fruit and funk I love but also an earthy depth that makes it so interesting to nose and sip. Another all time favorite. 

Rating 10/ 10
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Tobermory 1972 32 Year Black Label 49.7%

Nose: Packed bar late at night… a 1990s pintxos bar. Rich cecina (cured air dried beef), red wine splashed on the ground, flat coke, sawdust, cigarette smoke, touch of body odor from so many people laughing too loud in the night air. Chocolate mints they put on my pillow. Cedar.

Palate: Deep, dank, brooding with a shocking whit. Oily and slightly sweet. I just kissed a smoker (shane). Dried ground cinnamon. Cold Press coffee. Black tea with hints of cardamom and anise. Leather. A wonderful funk factor.

Rating: 9 (Shane) 10 (Ryan) / 10 a simply standout beast. Delicious with an extra helping of n-eroticism. This is red label’s funkier edgy sibling who doesn’t give a damn.