A Bourbon Drinker's Take on Armagnac, Part 2. Domaine Pacory 15yr Calvados, Adrien Camut 18yr Calvados, Tom Foolery Bottled in Bond Applejack, and Chateau de Pellehaut 15yr 2001 Armagnac

A recap for those that missed part 1 - I'm well versed in the world of bourbon but have absolutely no idea what I am doing when it comes to Armagnac. All of what follows were samples sent to me by kind friends as I try to explore the world of Armagnac and in doing so ended up with some other brandies as well. To keep things honest, I didn't do any research on any of them so what follows are raw tasting notes.

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Domaine Pacory 15 year K&L Exclusive Domfrontais Calvados, 42%

I have no idea what Calvados is. First taste was very rough, lots of fruit but lots of rough bitter notes and none of the sweet forward notes I love in bourbon or Armagnac. Second taste is more of the same only now I’ve read the word pear on the sample label. Pears! Yes, definitely pears rather than apple. Getting some rough raw young wood notes or old bitter wood notes, I don’t know but the wood influence just seems off. A few sips later things are starting to level off, the odd wood notes are going away, finally getting some baked pears and sweetness but it’s dry in the end. There’s something in the finish I just don’t like about this, it doesn’t taste like anything familiar. It’s not something I would want to drink again and really didn’t want to finish the sample. Rating: D

Tom Foolery Bottled in Bond Applejack, 50%

I have no idea what Applejack means but the bottled in bond gives me some hope. The nose and taste are overwhelming apples. There are also some vitamin mineral notes very reminiscent of George Dickel though not nearly as forward as in Dickel. I'm also getting some punchy spice which I didn't expect - not sure if that's just the higher proof, the cooperage, or if the distillate actually imparted that. The apple notes are a bit much for me as they dominate the nose, taste, and finish but at least this has some good body and the spice component was welcome. Rating: C

Adrien Camut 18 year Privilege Calvados Pays d'Auge, 41%

The nose smells like stewed apples or pears, reminiscent of the spiced baked apples Cracker Barrel serves. The taste is exactly like the nose - warm spiced baked apples. The apple notes are pretty bright and it’s crazy sweet. I'm not sure if it's wood sweets or fruit sweets but overwhelmingly so. Definitely not as wood forward or old rancio as I seem to prefer. There is not much negative that I can find other than being one dimensional towards apple sweets and kinda thin. This one just seems kind boring and middle of the road but it is easy to drink. Rating: C-

Chateau de Pellehaut 2001 15 year Tenareze Armagnac, 43%

Tasting this after the apple and pear brandies, we’re back in a good place here. Tastes like a moderately aged, nice, Armagnac. It's not overly woody, not overly loaded with rancio flavors, just nice strong grape alcohol notes like brown sugar coated raisins. My only complaint is it’s a little thin and dull with fruity brown sugar sweetness being the one trick pony. Rating: B- / C+

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Thoughts: I think it is safe to say I do not like apple or pear distillate so when it comes to brandy it's grapes or bust for me. Next up in the series we'll get back on the Armagnac train with some K&L exclusives and a couple Domaine de Baraillon.

A Bourbon Drinker's Take on a Few Armagnacs, Part 1. Delord 25, Chateau De Laubade XO, Darroze 20, Darroze 1986, and Chateau de Pellehaut 1989

I've been trying to branch out into other spirits for a while now, mostly because the demand for bourbon and rye is so crazy that special bottles are pretty hard to find and/or priced out of my comfort zone. Prompted by reviews by retired blogger Sku and others on the reddit whiskey network, Armagnac seemed like one of the last bastions where you could get good deals on exceptional bottles so I ran with it. The disclaimer here is though I've had a lot of bourbon, I know very little about Armagnac. What I noticed in trying to research Armagnac is there just aren't a lot of reviews out there apart from K&L which I take with a grain of salt since they are in the business of selling product. In light of that, I thought it would be worthwhile to share a seasoned bourbon drinker's take on exploring this spirit. Most of these are just free-form notes, some were from bottles, a lot were from samples. For the record, I'm also a bit of a proof whore so sub 90 proof spirits aren't something I drink very often. 

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Delord 25 Year Old Bas-Armagnac 40%

The nose is grapey with some dark cocoa powder sweetness. It’s a little thin as you would expect for 40% but it’s got some menthol spice tingle. The taste is caramel sweet grapes and actually pretty rich for the proof. The finish lingers with woody grapes and some cocoa powder. There’s a good amount of wood influence here and there are hints of those old hyper aged Armagnac notes that I crave but overall I don’t think it tastes as old as other Armagnacs I’ve had this age or younger. 

This was the first Armagnac I ever tried at the recommendation of my local shop and this was the bottle that won me over that Armagnac was a spirit I need to explore. Today I consider it my baseline of good as it is easy to drink, has a lot of woody grape flavors, is well price for the age, and easily accessible even in markets that have terrible availability (like my own). Rating: C+

Château De Laubade XO Armagnac 40%

Grape forward, light, thin. Tastes like a younger, typical Armagnac. Not quite on par with Delord 25, probably a little more fruity grape forward and less sweet brown sugar or wood influence. Rating: C-

Darroze 1986 Domaine de Barigos Bas-Armagnac, 47.8%

Very nice balance of sweet and bitter. Tastes rather old and a bit funky. I’ve had better but this is in the right wheelhouse with those classic old Armagnac flavors which I assume are what everyone reviews to as rancio. To me that's old wood tannins, sugary dried raisins, and darker sweet vibes like cocoa. A good, classic, hyper-aged Armagnac. Rating: B

Darroze Les Grands Assemblages 20 year Bas-Armagnac 43%

The nose is very sweet with sugary raisin notes. Also getting a little spice, like what you might pick up in a low rye bourbon. The palate is a lot more of the same - it’s mostly honey and sugary raisin notes with a medium amount of wood influence and some of that aforementioned spice. It's more fruit forward than the other Darroze but in the right wheelhouse. The finish lingers for a bit with honey and a bit of dry woodiness. The proof bump there adds some depth and gives this an advantage over my baseline of Delord 25 - I think this is quite a bit better than that. Overall, it tastes exactly like what you would expect from a moderately long aged slightly up-proofed Armagnac. Rating: B-

Chateau de Pellehaut 1989 27 year Ténarèze Ugni Blanc Armagnac 49.9%

Disclaimer: I have no idea what Ténarèze Ugni Blanc means and I'm not going to spoil anything by looking it up first. The nose is very fruity with a peaches and pears vibe more than grapes or plums. The mouthfeel and taste are very bourbon like with lots of woody sweet flavors and some fruity peaches/pears. There are some classic brown sugar raisin notes in there but they take a backseat to more traditional whiskey notes. This drinks more like a bourbon than an Armagnac as it's more wood and wood sugars than grape and grape sugars. It's almost like I took some EHT single barrel and mixed it with an old Armagnac. Dangerously easy to drink for 50%. I've never had anything like this and like it a lot. Rating: B+

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Thoughts: I'm well aware there's a trend where my ratings go up as the proof goes up but that should correct itself a little in upcoming reviews. Up next in part 2 I will branch out beyond Armagnac and try some Calvados brandies. Spoiler alert, I seem to be more partial to corn and grapes than apples.

Note that price is not considered when assigning a rating.