Tuff Talk Distilling ‘Ook’ Banana Brandy 52%
Nose: I took this bottle along with a bunch of brandy to our home brewers beer festival this weekend. It was so much fun exposing them to “experimental” spirits. Every time someone grabbed Andy’s Tuff Talk Banana brandy their eyes would light up and hooooly cow that smells like banana. Well technically, JODER, como huele a platano. Que fenomeno. But you get the spirit of it. This is now my personal reference when it comes to the category. A category of maybe one provider given I have yet to get my hands on Capovilla’s one banana experiment, but so worth it. Alright, nose… the first impression is banana candy from my childhood – Haribo banana gummies or Malabar tuti fruti. But not cloying, rather it’s paired with a potent floralness. It’s the nuance of bananas that comes next – downright bizarre how I manage to get notes of fresh, nearly ripe but still a touch green bananas, and then a moment of gnarly goopy caramelized banana hits. It even had a hint of banana peel in it. I set this aside for a while and tried to forget banana… orange blossoms. And notes of guarapo (sugar cane juice). Almost could fool me into thinking it was a high ester unaged rhum agricole. I remember making a pink peppercorn simple syrup for julie once that could be a good crossover.
Palate: I enjoy drinking this straight, but I have to admit that this feels like it was born to be a cocktail ingredient. I sneak nips into my hot chocolate. I sprinkle it on crepes. And certainly someone who drinks cocktails will make something insane. Most EDV brings me back to the home(s) of my youth. To mom’s orchards. This is the first brandy that anchors me in my new home, in Canarias. Because if we know anything here, it’s that wacky herb known as a platano. The first sip is bananas, both literally and figuratively, but let’s move beyond the obvious. Having performed a half-dozen banana distillations myself, I want to bow down. It’s HARD to make good banana brandy. Its so easy to have that overripe banabread note dominate, which isn’t all that yummy – none of that here. There is something a hint of green initially, herbaceous. Like lemongrass without the sour note. Its so rhum agricole on a big sip, touches of anise seed with a real juicy fruit moment.
Rating: 8 / 10 – It’s stupid hard to rate this, because my rating might not apply to everyone. I wish I had another bottle. Or two frankly. In part due to my respect for its craftsmanship and in part because I’m nearly at the bottom of the bottle I absconded with from the tasting and I want to keep poking at how it ticks. But in the end cuz its just cool. According to my scale, that is an 8. People have a blast trying it.
