Apparently I like Congnac

Authors note: I originally wrote this on Black Friday 2007, along with several other articles I never finished. I am finishing this now. Perhaps I might get a chance to finish the rest of the series.

In between dinner in Little Italy and After Dinner Cordials at McSorley't I sampled Ferrand Cognac at Astors's Wines and Liquors. To my surprise I like cognac when its done properly. At least I like it when it's done by Ferrand.

The tasting was lead by Jean-Francois Daniel, apparently a representative of Ferrand. He claims their cognacs are comparative to single malt scotches, and I agree with that.

They showcased three of their products at the tastings. They were the 10, the 20 and the 30 year equivilant. A bit of a note on that. These are blended cognacs. In the world of scotch, a.k.a. that which I know best, to say a blend is X years old is to say that the youngest cask used in it is X years old. Apparenly, in the case of Cognac you are allowed to call something the equivalent of X years. Well despite this ambiguity, and the fact that these are blends, I reeaffirm that these are single malt scotch equivalent.

The 10 year old was quite oaky, but still a Cognac. The 20 year old was quite fruity. The thirty year old was divine. I don't pretend to have developed my pallet or pallet vocabulary enough to explain the difference. However, its there.