42% ABV Archives - The Distillates

Tag: 42% ABV

Shane

Domaine de Jouanchicot 1968 @ 42% by Darroze

Nose: It’s like getting hugged by maple syrup. creme brulee with an apricot reduction, right at the end of the aroma there is something with a bit more character, a hint of white pepper. The nose is gourmand.

Palate: Maple syrup indeed. Fluffy pancakes with a dusting of brown sugar. Oatmeal cookies. All the goodness from long aging with none of the heavy tannins. The white pepper wasn’t a figment of my imagination.

Rating: 6 / 10 – elegant and quite lovely, but misses some depth. Wish I knew which year it was bottled. I’d love to try a higher ABV from this domain.

Tasting Note

Robinson Golden Jamaican Rum 1950s @ 42%

Nose: Oh wow, bigger rum funk! Blue cheese, super funky mango, papaya, and pineapple. Lotss of barnyard funk. Vinegar. With more time in the glass, the level of funk, namely blue cheese and vinegar, gasses off. Fish sauce and a bit of tarragon.

Palate: Damn, this is the very embodiment of cedar. Anchovy, steamed artichoke heart, white pepper, leeks soup

Rating: 5 (Shane) 7 (Ryan) / 10 – what a cool nose, body is more savory and looses the fruit. blended, no stated distillery

Tasting Note

Shane

Keeling Demerara Rum 1960s @ 42%

Nose: Syrup, pomegranate, fig, plum, Luxardo cherry

Palate: That is lovely. Subtle, elegant sweetness. Cherry, sandalwood, strong sherry notes, thick oily palate, slight acidity

Rating: 6 / 10 – lovely deep sherry notes

Tasting Note

Shane

Marcillac Hors Age Armagnac 42%

Nose: I had a love-hate relationship with the trees in my front yard as a teen. Cleanup was my responsibility and I think the prior owners were sadists. The prettiest was the pink pepper tree, common to southern california, and ridiculously drought resistant, but its sweeping bent branches and berries wer e messy. Laid down a perma-carpet. The leaves and berries combined to create a slightly sweet but spicy herbal scent. Of course it had nothing on the Eucalyptus which is an asshole of a tree but thankfully, that is off topic for this nose. As the glass rested a basenote dense with leather tannins and pear / apple skin. And an oddly pounding sweetness, approaching watermelon and pomegranate.

Palate: Hey that is good. Ripe coffee cherries. If you have never tried any, there isn’t much fruit to eat, but they taste a lot like a watermelon mixed with an apricot. I stand by my pink peppercorn. A lovely tannic and coffee undertone; although on second though.. closer to carob. On the finish there is the ghost of something distinctly herbal, geranium or catnip? Can’t quite land the last note. Need a buddy. =)

Rating: 6 / 10 – Sitting here on the bean bag, watching my son fall asleep, it is a very nice sip. Both elegant and flavorful, an excellent blend. I’d gladly share a bottle of this with friends, although it’s not quite neurotic enough to get a place in my cabinet. Since moving to the new house, Sojourn needs a sleep copilot. So I now work, or think, and often sip as he awaits the spell of Somnus to take him down below the plane of consciousness.

Tasting Note

Shane

Gustincic Rakija Petra 2012 42%

Nose: First sniff… is the waiting. My nose hair tingle but not much else. I set it down and watched my son toss and turn. Spring is rough following daylight savings. Not that bedtime is ever easy. And so I wait. Chemical smells waft and then subside. A sharper smell, burnt toast and green peppercorn. Grilled leeks & green peppers. Needs a touch of umami and it could be a solid shish kabob. Instead it moved towards soil splashed with clay. An understated nose. Not quite sure what to expect.

Palate: Alright, not actually surprised. I would spend part of the summer in the french countryside with my grandparents as a child. The sun would bake everything. We’d wander dry fields, where the dust would get kicked up by my sneakers and coat everything. You could taste it for hours. It would make me dream of refreshment… only to be teased, cucumber spa water left out in the sun. Heavily mineralized hard water. Touch of a limestone.

Rating: 5 / 10 – This isn’t bad. Reminds me of a very gentle orujo. I doubt I would reach for it intentionally, but if served while sitting around an old farm table with my grandfather’s Pétanque buddies instead of pastice, I’d drink it and feel special.

Tasting Note

Somerset 5 Year Cider Brandy 42% (2nd fill french oak)

Nose: A lovely apple vinegar note. Nutmeg and chestnuts. Light milk chocolate. Managed to be fragrant and rich without being sweet. Crisp and clean apple. You get those subtle more cidery, olive, almond notes. Apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, apple chutney, meyer lemon. Hint of manure.

Palate: A class oak spice bouquet. Cocoa powder. Crab apple tartness. Thin and kinda gentle but with a long finish. Leathery and tobacco. Anise. Apple sauce/butter.

Rating: 6 (Ryan) 5 (Shane) / 10 – a perfectly lovely pour that is underpowered for my palate.

Tasting Note

Somerset 10 Year Cider Brandy 42% (20 year old 1st fill Oloroso cask)

Nose: Farmyard, cloves, wet hay. cedar planks, pollen, danish pastry, super subtle orange marmalade on toast.

Palate: Oak and apple leather. Cigar box. Cocoa nibs. Farmy and funky, oxidized. Has a chicken marsala vibe (the sauce, not the chicken). Nice layer of sherry undertones that nicely play with the apple.

Rating: 5 (Ryan) 6 (Shane) / 10

Tasting Note

Belgrove Distillery Apple Hatchet (apple brandy) 42%

Nose: Apple cider with a super tart apple, mulched ash and cedar, a light stilton cheese, saltiness, lime peel, unripe fig

Palate: Water that a cigar was extinguished in, smokey and deeply woody, salisbury steak tv dinner.. Where did the apple go?!?

Rating: 4 / 10 – loved the nose, but damn the palate is a major departure. I’m baffled at the disconnect. Made from a local cider that have surplus production. In australia brandy required 2 years, so he calls it a hatchet.