Give Your Cocktail a Little Je Ne Sais Quoi

An unequivocal translator of time and place, eaux de vie—or unaged fruit brandies—have added a missing I don’t know what to the modern drink.

For the average person, nosing a glass of, say, whiskey, might conjure tasting notes along the lines of “oaky,” “fruity,” or at the most basic, “This is whiskey.” But hand them a glass of eau de vie, or unaged fruit brandy, and even the most novice drinker might say, “Ooh, this smells just like raspberry.” Indeed, the beauty of eau de vie is its clarity of flavor. And thanks to a growing number of top-rate producers who understand the spirit’s potential, and an equally enthusiastic cohort of bartenders who appreciate its strong sense of place, eau de vie has finally found a welcome home on the modern backbar. 

Eau de vie—French for “water of life”—is by no means novel. Born and bred in Europe, particularly France, Southern Germany, Austria and Northern Italy, this category of delicate fruit-driven spirit has existed for centuries. Historically, it was considered a peasant spirit, made from the scraps of fruits. Now, eau de vie’s focused flavor has made it a standout option for bartenders seeking unequivocally terroir-driven ingredients to add complexity to any number of cocktails. 

Even before craft whiskey brands began exploring the potential for grain to embody flavor characteristics from a specific plot of land or soil type, eau de vie had already put its stake in the ground as a spirit that is first and foremost an agricultural product. “When enthusiasts go to a whisky distillery, there is a lot of emphasis put on fermentation, the still distillation process, the temperature, the number of plates the still has and so on,” explains Nicolas Palazzi, founder of the Brooklyn-based importing company PM Spirits, which brings stateside such renowned eau de vie producers as Rochelt and Cazottes, and starting in early 2022, Capreolus Distillery. “Eau de vie producers don’t care as much about distillation as other categories do; they care about the field, the vines, the orchard, the fruits,” Palazzi adds. “There is a relation to the land that is not necessarily present with producers who either distill grains or fruits for the purpose of aging the distillate.”

In this way, eau de vie producers share much in common with contemporary winemakers. No matter the raw material—be it apple (pomme), quince (coing), raspberry (framboise) or plum (mirabelle)—distillers are looking for fruits of the highest quality, which are grown in ideal conditions and harvested at the peak of their flavor. Like wine, variations in flavor can be tasted in each vintage, or even between parcels of land within the same vintage. 

“At one time, I would have said that terroir in spirits is impossible because the distillation process would strip anything from the initial source,” says Ben Robinson, sommelier at Moor Hall, a restaurant with two Michelin stars in Lancashire, England. “However, over the last few years, I would have to say that there could be a sense of terroir in eaux de vie.” 

Unicorns in the Making: Grab These Collectible Spirits While You Still Can

It’s not hard to think these gorgeous orange-waxed bottles might soon become, cough, the Pappy of Armagnac.

Just as the unicorn is a mythical creature, the often bandied-about stuff of legends, its mesmerizing beauty frequently discussed but rarely seen, so too are many of the most famous bottles in the bourbon world today. Unlike that spiral-horned equine, however, there was a time these whiskey unicorns actually appeared “in the wild”— in other words, on store shelves — before hunters started taking them out.

L’Encantada Armagnac

While single barrels were generally disqualified from this exercise, this bottler only releases single barrels from a variety of tiny Armagnac estates like Lous Pibous and Le Frêche (with the exception of its excellent XO Armagnac, a blend of barrels usually limited to around 2,000 bottles). If bourbon drinkers are seemingly willing to spend any amount of money on whiskey, the same is not quite true for brandy, even if it’s older, rarer, and assuredly more delicious. (Taste hardly matters for unicorn status — sad but true.) But the tide is slowly turning and two- and sometimes three-decades-aged releases from L’Encantada that used to sell for under $100 and used to linger on shelves for months, are now going for two to three times that and lasting mere weeks in some cases. It’s not hard to think these gorgeous orange-waxed bottles might soon become, cough, the Pappy of Armagnac.

Your Sustainable Drinking Starter Pack

Solving the sustainability problem that cocktails pose—or any consumption, for that matter—is no easy feat. But easing into it by introducing low-waste practices and thoughtful sourcing can go a long way. And, thanks to a growing crop of eco-minded spirit producers and drink-makers, there’s never been a better time to drink sustainably.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, there are plenty of ways to lessen the footprint of your own home bar. It can start with a zero-waste approach to using citrus, in which flavor can be extracted from the peels, hulls and pith that might otherwise be discarded, or by seeking out spirits to stock your bar that promote biodiversity, source local crops and support farming communities.

Bottles to Try

Neta: The agave spirits bottler and exporter works with small, family-owned farms to bring their products to market at a profitable price point. As such, producers are able to maintain traditional mezcal practices and crops while avoiding overharvesting or the loss of agave biodiversity for the sake of meeting demand.

Let’s Talk About “Smooth”

It may be the most ubiquitous descriptor in drinks. Is it also the most reviled?

The Bordeaux-bred, Brooklyn-based spirits importer Nicolas Palazzi traffics in stories—of the alchemists along the river Charente, whose Cognacs capture the essence of the surrounding vineyards and microbiota; of the artisans in northwestern France, whose Calvados express the nuance of dozens of cider apple varieties via a single bottle. Palazzi’s company, PM Spirits, identifies itself as a “provider of geeky spirits.” Part of the job, indeed, involves geeking out, luxuriating in the details and conveying them to potential buyers. It’s an arrangement that hinges on dialogue, governed by the imprecise linguistics of wine and spirits. Descriptors and analogs form bridges to connect one’s palate and sensibility to another’s. But all it takes is one word to dissolve the connection entirely.

“If their reaction is, ‘Oh, that’s smooth,’ it just tells me that I probably have not identified my customer as well as I thought I had,” Palazzi tells me. “I’m not upset at the person saying ‘smooth.’ I’m upset at the waste of life—it’s basically a sign that says ‘You just wasted your time.’”

Harsh words for a word that literally signifies the opposite. But language matters. The lingua franca of booze is inherently nebulous, and it requires calibration. A trained nose and palate can instantaneously identify a range of aromas and flavors and free-associate memories and feelings, which all become pinpoints tracing a constellation, giving shape to a ghost. The term “smooth” effectively erases any point of reference. Even as an adjective, “smooth” functions as a verb: It is the buffing out of character, the sanding down of the distinctions that make great spirits great. In the quest to triangulate the specific qualities of a spirit, “smooth” instead forms a binary of acceptability. It is a value judgment on whether or not one finds the spirit drinkable, one that can easily be impressed upon an unwitting consumer. This is exactly why the term is so ubiquitous in the marketplace, and—for decades, if not centuries—a red flag among connoisseurs.

The 9 Best Rums to Drink Right Now

There's a rum for everyone, and these newly available rums highlight the breadth of this amazing spirit.

The question is no longer dark, gold, or silver, but whether the rum was distilled from crushed sugarcane, cane syrup, or molasses, and how much sugar was added back in. Instead of asking simply how old a rum is, you might wonder how many years it spent aging in one climate before it was sent to a different one.

Increasingly, new rums offer geographical specificity, letting you mull the influence of local culture and method of sugar production, as though you were drinking wine. The experience can be like enjoying other terroir-forward spirits like mezcal, unpredictable but obviously representative of place, and transcendent when you taste the right one. There's also been an explosion of armchair spirits connoisseurship that has made room for special gems that were previously only available abroad, as well as cultivating a new appreciation for historic distilleries who are now finding new markets for their output. 

Pere Labat 40

The term rhum agricole is widely applied to rum made from freshly pressed sugarcane, but most specifically applies to the appellation-protected rums of French-administered islands in the Caribbean Sea and Indian Ocean. While Martinique rhum is widely available from distilleries like Neisson, La Favorite, and Clement, rhum from Guadeloupe has been extremely rare until now. Père Labat, produced on the island of Marie-Galante, has exquisite aged options, but the unaged distillate is a great place to start. Available in both 40 and 59% abv, the gentler strength is smooth, naturally sweet, and dangerously easy to enjoy in a fruity highball or on ice. 

The 16 Best New Spirit Releases Currently on the Market

Cognac Hommage a Yves & Jean-Noel Pelletan 

This limited-edition, single-cask cognac (along with a few demijohns) consists of a blend of eaux de vie that was distilled between 1925 and 1965, so this is truly a taste of cognac history. Just 870 bottles were released this past October, and it was named after a father and son cooperage team who hold the title of Maitres Artisans Tonneliers and are important figures in the cognac category. This is truly a legendary spirit that will not reappear.

Review: Mic.Drop Rye L20-01 4 Years Old

The latest Mic.Drop release from PM Spirits isn’t a bourbon but a rye, another young gun at 4 years old, sourced from Wilderness Trail Distillery in Danville, Kentucky. Mic.Drop L20-01, which was released late last year, is drawn from just 5 casks of rye distilled in 2015 and bottled in 2020, made from a mash of 56% rye, 33% corn, and 11% barley malt. This is purportedly the first time Wilderness Trail has ever sold barrels of aged whiskey to anyone instead of bottling it themselves.

Well, let’s try it out.

Hearty on the nose, the whiskey has the classic punch of rye, all spice and pepper and dried fruits, impregnated with cedar wood and notes of dill. The palate is quite sweet but also impressively spiced, the notes of green herbs and fresh-cut cedar wood punching with some force. Then comes more of the fruit: Apple fritters in sweet cream. A splash of water does some good, tempering the heat and bringing out more of the barrel influence, including a gentle chocolate note that emerges on the finish. Hints of vanilla and brown sugar calm some of the unruly rye spice notes up top, letting the young but expressive rye do its thing with more of a sense of balance.

In the final analysis, it’s really fun stuff. Tough to justify at nearly $100 a bottle, though, but I presume you can convince yourself through whatever logic you need.

108 proof.

A-

Straight From the Barrel

“...Hommage a Yves & Jean-Noel Pelletan, the rare cask-strength Cognac, has a boldness that belies the softly nuanced quality its category is known for.”

The 25 Best Bourbons of the 21st Century (So Far)

Bourbons have become increasingly collectible. Here are the ones you need to stash away.

There’s much to love about the world’s great Japanese, Scotch and Irish whiskey distilleries. But when it comes to innovation, the wily bourbon producers in the United States have been leading the way for years. In Kentucky and beyond, purveyors of America’s native spirit have refused to let the excellence of their existing products stand in the way of coming up with new ones. And over the last decade and a half, a plenitude of incredible new whiskey with a mash bill of at least 51 percent corn and aged in charred new oak barrels—the house rules for a whiskey to be called a bourbon—has come to market, some from brand-new producers, others new expressions from venerated houses. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered. Here are 25 of the best bourbon releases of the last 20 years.

Mic.Drop.

A delicious blend of 20 different casks of eight-year-old whiskey that offers multifarious flavors highlighted by maple syrup, coconut, cloves, and dark fruit. Mic.Drop. came out of nowhere in 2017 and now resides on the back bars of some of the country’s most prestigious drinking establishments. It’s easy to spot, too, with an eye-catching label designed by comic book artist Chris Batista. The follow up, Mic.Drop.2, was released in 2018 —140 bottles at $450 a pop.

How Cocktails Are Helping Armagnac Reinvent Its Image For A New Generation

La Boutique Des Vins in Toulouse’s historic Carmes neighborhood is one of the more popular spots for local residents to browse for just the right wine or spirit, maybe even a craft beer. On a quiet Friday evening when store traffic was still sparse, Noémie Cassou-Lalanne arrived in the hopes of convincing customers to reconsider a traditional spirit that might only rarely be on their shopping list.

Surrounded by a nook of shelves filled with wine bottles, teas, and chocolate bars, Cassou-Lalanne set up a small table and a silver tray with three bottles of Armagnac from the Pellehaut domaine in the Gascony region where she’s in charge of marketing. She then improvised a small bartending station, complete with cutting board, mint leaves, a pestle, tiny umbrellas, ice cubs, and simple syrup to make Armagnac Mojitos.This reimagined cocktail used two types of Armagnac that this artisanal industry hopes will revitalize the image of France’s oldest eau de vie. The first, L’Age de Glace Château de Pellehaut, is a light-brown blend of Armagnacs that have spent little time aging a barrel. The other is Blanche Armagnac, a clear white spirit that has not been aged.

Queen Snake - Shannon Tebay, Death & Co.

INGREDIENTS

Serving: 1

• 1 1/2 ounces blanche de armagnac, preferably Cobra Fire Eau de Vie de Raisin

• 1/2 ounce Clear Creek Douglas Fir Eau de Vie

• 2 teaspoons lychee liqueur, preferably Giffard Lichi Li Lychee Liqueur

• 1 teaspoon crème de cacao, preferably Marie Brizard

• 1 lime shoulder

DIRECTIONS

1. Express lime, leave in bottom of a Sazerac glass.

2. Combine all ingredients and stir to integrate.

3. Top with cracked ice.
   
   

Claire de Montesquiou plunged into Armagnac 30 years ago with her husband after living in England. They bought Domaine D’Espérance and began to restore its vineyards. They believed the clay soil on the far western part of the official Armagnac region would yield high-quality grapes. Three decades later, they’ve developed a strong international reputation while also staying small. “I make small quantities of high quality,” she said. “It’s like if you wanted to compare haute couture to ready-to-wear.”

She’s also brought a willingness to experiment. Several years ago, she connected with Nicolas Palazzi, a Bordeaux native who had moved to New York City where he worked as an importer and brand ambassador. Palazzi was passionate about Armagnac, but he felt it was too complicated to explain to bartenders and potential customers. “The fact that it’s called Blanche Armagnac makes it really hard to sell in my world,” he said.

Cobrafire, eau-de-vie raisin

He worked with de Montesquiou to create a product called Cobrafire. Rather than sitting in a still container for 3 months and having water added, the Armagnac is distilled at a lower alcohol rate, bottled after one month, and then sold as an “eau-de-vie raisin.” 

“I’m a big proponent of putting stuff in a bottle at its natural proof,” Palazzi said. “If you try it and you like it, and then you need to add water to it, then you can do it. But it’s not someone in a lab deciding for you.”

It’s a sharp break with tradition. But Palazzi said Armagnac makers need to take some chances if their product is going to reach a wider audience.

“What we’re trying to do with Cobrafire is to reframe things so that people are interested,” Palazzi said. “We’re trying to sell something really good. I want to let people discover the work of distillers who really care about their stuff.”

The 9 Best New Rums to Drink Right Now

Spirits worth sipping.

Distilled from cane juice rather than molasses, rhum agricole is a different beast from standard rum, with a distinctly grassy, vegetal flavor profile. Cane-based rum can be produced anywhere, but the best-known expressions come from the French Caribbean. Pere Labat is from Guadeloupe’s Distillerie Poisson, the oldest distillery on the island of Marie-Galante. The un-aged rum, distilled to the high-octane “local proof” at which the natives like to drink it, is powerfully vegetal on the nose but much less so on the palate, where it displays notes of vanilla and mint in addition to the classic agricole grassiness. It’s surprisingly easy to drink neat or on the rocks and makes for a great change of pace in a daiquiri.

Geeky Cocktails: Meet the Man Behind the Artisanal Spirits Movement

Geeky Cocktails: Meet the Man Behind the Artisanal Spirits Movement

When Nicolas Palazzi quit his day job as a chemical engineer in 2008, the spirits world got a little more interesting. The French native had moved to New York City to manage a medical research lab, but brought with him a curiously intense affinity for rare-cask Cognac. Dismayed by the lack of like-minded, handcrafted products on the market in the U.S.—where the spirits scene was still largely focused on big-name brands despite a booming, more intelligent cocktail culture—he set out to learn the business from the ground up. He officially launched his import company, PM Spirits, in early 2011 with just two independent Cognac producers (Paul Beau, Guillon-Painturaud) and six products. Now his book includes profound Spanish brandies, grappa from famed Sicilian avant-gardiste Frank Cornelissen, and Mexican Fernet (a bitter liqueur).

Palazzi is being lauded by beverage authorities nationwide as the go-to for distillates of character and terroir, and Palazzi’s unique bottles now line the shelves of restaurant and bar greats like The NoMad in New York City, Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington, D.C., and Scopa Italian Roots in Venice, California. Had an interesting digestif you’d never heard of before while out dining? That might have been made possible through Palazzi’s meticulous sourcing. He talks to Vogue.com about cocktails, “geeky” spirits, and the six bottles he’s most excited about now.

The tagline on your website is “provider of geeky spirits.” What does “geeky” mean in the spirits world?

When it comes to spirits in general, one doesn’t buy a product, one buys a brand. They buy the marketing and the status that the label conveys, but they don’t have a gauge on the true quality of the stuff inside the bottle, how it was made, who made it, and why it tastes the way it does. So by “geeky,” we mean the other stuff. It’s made by real people. It has an actual flavor profile that is specific to the place in which it’s made and the ingredients it’s made from. It’s not sweetened to death, artificially colored, or made to be as innocuous as it can be.

From that perspective, it seems to be as much about supporting the little guy as it is about supplying cool products.

It absolutely is. We want them to keep doing what they’re doing. When you start working with somebody, and they’re distilling out of a shack or their house is run-down, and you come back a year and a half later and see that they’ve made improvements. . . I’m not saying it’s 100 percent because of what we’ve done, but there is something rewarding about working with real people and the fact that the money spent buying these products can go toward their living and the creative process as opposed to feeding some giant company. I have nothing against big companies, but that makes it more meaningful to me. And the other result is that we’re educating people; we’re getting the authentic stuff to the people who will care about it. We’re showing them what these spirits used to taste like before mass marketing existed and can still taste like today.

What is a typical reaction of someone tasting spirits in your portfolio who is more used to tasting name-brand products?

People are not sure what to expect. A lot of people start out thinking that they’re doing us a favor by tasting these products that they’ve never heard of before, but they end up realizing that there’s a world of difference. I had one buyer who thought he didn’t like Cognac, then after one taste of the Paul Beau VS, he lit up. He was all, “Oh, wow, that’s really interesting,” and, “That’s a set of aromas and flavors I’ve never experienced before.”

There’s something extra that happens in the brain with the sensory experience of taste. When you taste something new and you love it, there’s an emotional connection that takes place. At that point, the person is not likely to forget it. They know you’re not fooling around and will want to see what else you have in your bag, even if it’s not something that will appeal to their particular clientele. They know you’re not wasting their time.

Would you say that the movement toward artisanal spirits is picking up speed, like what we saw happen to the craft-beer category?

It has definitely changed over the last six or seven years. Before, nobody cared, really. If you take bourbon as an example, you used to be able find anything you’d want and more on the shelves for a lot less money because people just didn’t know about it. And now certain bourbons are unavailable and allocated. Spirits are becoming cool. Drinkers have started paying more attention to what they’re drinking. I think that’s good news for everyone involved.

What is the coolest cocktail that you’ve encountered made with one of your spirits?

In Texas, I saw a sidecar made with a single-cask Cognac from a producer named Gourry [de Chadeville] that I brought in last year. This Cognac is distilled in a wood-fired pot still and is 64.3 percent alcohol, so that is a pretty kick-ass sidecar. You can’t drink too many of them! And at Cane & Table in New Orleans, they’re making a daiquiri with a rum I sourced in Spain from the sherry producer Equipo Navazos. It’s a bold daiquiri and is totally delicious.

What’s the latest addition to your portfolio that you’re most excited about? The thing that we don’t know about yet but will?

Calvados! I was lucky enough to be introduced to Eric Bordelet, the cider-maker in Normandy. It turns out the guy has been distilling for a number of years but never released anything. He’s doing single-cask full-proof unfiltered Calvados, distilling from both his cidre and his poiré (pear cider). Plus, his mentor was Didier Dagueneau, the famed Pouilly-Fumé winemaker, so everything is aged in ex-Silex casks from Dagueneau. It’s incredibly cool and will be available stateside in the beginning of 2016.

Intrigued? Here are six unique bottles Palazzi recommends adding to your bar (or gifting a very good friend):

Navazos-Palazzi Double Barreled Cask Strength Spanish Rum
A 100 percent molasses-based rum from the Antilles. Dark, meaty, with a nuttiness derived from the Oloroso sherry cask it ages in for more than ten years. Finishes bone dry. Only 1,500 bottles produced per year.

H. Beudin Single Cask 18 Year Calvados
Calvados with a kick, bottled at full proof. Gives a sense of what the pure stuff tastes like when sampled from a cask. Selected by star cider-maker Eric Bordelet.

Gourry de Chadeville Grande Champagne Cognac
One-man operation led by Pierre Goursat Gourry on nearly 25 acres of vineyards in Grande Champagne. A young, bold Cognac reminiscent of ripe apple and smoke, it spends seven years in an ex-first growth Sauternes cask.

Domaine d'Aurensan 1975 Single Cask Armagnac-Ténarèze
Like a vintage-dated Armagnac on steroids, with zero sugar, zero water, and zero coloring added. Distilled by the Rozès family. Mature flavors of dried prune, leather, and earth, with a seemingly endless finish.

Laurent Cazottes Poire Williams Eau-de-Vie
Distilled from organic pears dried to concentrate their flavor and then the pits, seeds, and stalks removed. Only 200 half-bottles of this Poire Williams come in to the U.S. each year.

Frank Cornelissen MunJebel Rosso Grappa
What happens when Sicily's most emblematic natural winemaker makes grappa. Distilled in a wood-fired vapor still from volcanic Mt. Etna’s indigenous Nerello Mascalese grapes.

A Whiskey Unicorn for Every Taste

“Finally got to try my unicorn bourbon!” wrote one woman on a dedicated whiskey Facebook group in late July, uploading a selfie where she proudly displayed a bottle of Blanton’s Bourbon.

It didn’t take long for the resident whiskey geeks to, at the same time, question and criticize her argot.

Responded one man, sarcastically: “Who would [have] thought a 6-year bourbon at 93 proof is now a unicorn?”

While I likewise lament the current fervor for once-common bottles, Blanton’s is, in fact, a unicorn, if only because enough whiskey drinkers pursue it as if it were. Even if it’s not exceedingly rare and is debatable in quality, it nevertheless offers many of the criteria that construct the anatomy of today’s unicorns—allocated, boldly packaged, price-gouged.

There are, of course, different breeds of whiskey unicorns, some more rarely encountered than others. These days, most fall into the American whiskey category—consisting of Kentucky bourbon and rye— and, in the smallest genus of the unicorn kingdom, are almost always Buffalo Trace products. Similarly, any Japanese whisky from the Suntory distillery is immediately exalted to unicorn status in the United States—owing in part to a track record of truly sublime releases, coupled, I suspect, with the perceived exoticism of the hiragana characters on the labels. As is some Scotch, especially if it is jaw-droppingly expensive and packaged in such an ornamental fashion that it seems to signal it’s more an object to look upon than to drink. These days, after all, becoming a unicorn only partially relies on how a spirit tastes.

Here are 10 categories of unicorn whiskey you’ll likely chance upon while out hunting.

L’Encantada Armagnac, 1996

The Non-Whiskey Whiskey Collector Unicorns

Examples: Foursquare rum, L’Encantada Armagnac, Clase Azul tequila, Don Julio 1942 tequila

While many whiskey drinkers have a rigidly monogamous relationship with the spirit, there are certain offerings that might entice them to cross over. Typically, this occurs only when those products happen to taste just like top-notch whiskey—well-oaked caramel and vanilla bombs. Some, like the Sazerac-owned

L’Encantada Armagnac, 1979

Corazón tequila, are themselves aged in unicorn whiskey barrels, including George T. Stagg and Old Rip Van Winkle, for example. The producers of these spirits have even begun playing to the free-spending whiskey geek, offering cask-strength, single barrel releases (perfect for sticker labels) in handsome packages and, naturally, in limited supply.

What is Armagnac? Exploring Cognac’s Older Cousin

How Armagnac is Made

“Essentially, Cognac is more like Tequila, and Armagnac is more like mezcal in the way it’s produced,” says Nicolas Palazzi, owner of importer and distributor, PM Spirits, “but not in flavor [although it can occasionally share similar notes with the agave spirit].” Armagnac is a bit more artisanal in nature, and every producer creates a product to their own proof and style making it a fan favorite for spirit nerds.

Armagnac is allowed to use 10 grape varieties in production, but typically only use four: Ugni blanc, Baco, Folle Blanche, and Colombard; whereas in Cognac they use around 99% Ugni blanc. More variety in the raw material allows for Armagnac to express a diversity in flavor that Cognac cannot. When you also consider the terroir — the soil, climate, and hand of the maker — Armagnac truly distinguishes itself in character.

“There is something really interesting in picking grapes and making a product that has a true personality and seeing that product at a stage where it hasn’t become a very popular spirit [like Cognac] that has been modified to try to appeal to the general public,” says Palazzi. “Armagnac is very terroir-driven, it feels like you can connect with the history of the land and its rich history.”

In terms of distillation, 95% of Armagnac production is distilled with an alembic column still, whereas Cognac has to be pot-distilled, Palazzi notes. “Some are using pot still as well,” he says, although it’s a rarity.

After being distilled, the liquid is typically aged in 400-liter French oak casks — typically local, Gascony oak — and is then classified as VS, VSOP, Napoleón, or XO (Hors d’âge), depending on how long it has been aged for, with XO being the oldest age statement meaning the distillate has seen a minimum of 10 years in the cask. It’s also common for Armagnac producers to release vintages, like wine, but this will be more of a rarity as the category continues to rise in popularity.

After aging, the Armagnac is either bottled at cask strength, or proofed down. “The reason why Cognac is typically 40% ABV is to stretch out the amount they’re able to produce because of the demand,” Palazzi notes. “In Armagnac, you’ll find more full-proof bottling because they aren’t under the pressure of hitting numbers so they can focus on creating the best product possible [regardless of proof].” This means that each bottle will have its own distinct character, which isn’t always the case with other brandies.

Some producers to note are: Domaine Boignères, Château de Pellehaut, Domaine Espérance, Domaine d’Aurensan, but there are many others creating exceptional brandies as well in the region.

READ/LISTEN HERE

Cobrafire Eau-de-Vie de Raisin

An unaged blanche (white) Armagnac produced in the Bas Armagnac sub-appellation. It’s an undiluted, unadulterated expression of exactly what a French brandy should taste like. At 51.5% ABV, it’s also begging to make it into your next Martini.

PM Spirits VS Bas Armagnac Overproof

Importer PM Spirits teamed up with renown production house, Domaine Espérance, to release their own label of VS overproof (51.7% ABV) Armagnac. For the price you’ll pay, it’s an absolute steal and must-try.

How Craft Brands Can Succeed in the Covid-19 Era

Craft brands have been in the spotlight across wine, beer, and spirits in recent years, with products from small producers becoming increasingly sought after over mass-marketed products. Consumers are seeking out fresh discoveries, and are increasingly prioritizing the production methods, ingredients, and stories behind craft beverages.

But the onset of Covid-19 has presented a new challenge: While consumers are increasing their home consumption and retail alcohol sales are up, most craft wine and spirits brands have not benefited. As much of the on-premise sector remains shuttered and many consumers turn to e-commerce to limit in-store purchasing, there is no salesperson or sommelier to champion small brands or encourage the consumer to try something new.

ACQUIRING NEW RETAIL PLACEMENTS

While stay-home mandates and on-premise closures have resulted in retail sales spikes — as of June 13, off-premise sales were up 26 percent year-over-year for the entire Covid-affected time period — retailers are still working to manage this unexpected business shift.

“They’re still in survival mode,” says Nicolas Palazzi, the owner of PM Spirits in New York, an importer and distributor specializing in artisanal spirits brands. “They have no energy or time to do any outreach or take sales calls. They’re reacting to demand, and that demand is for mainstream brands because that’s what people know.” In the first six to eight weeks of the pandemic, most of Palazzi’s sales through existing retail accounts were for inexpensive items.

The Armagnac That’s Sneaking Into ‘Bourbon Porn’

It was early 2018 when the orange-waxed necks, with wooden placards on twine hanging from them, first started appearing on social media. If you spend any time trolling bourbon geek accounts on Instagram, or private groups on Facebook, you’ll recognize the repetitive set of images continually populating your feed: Pappy and the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection, of course; Weller, Willett, and Blanton’s, too, and maybe even dusty vintages of Wild Turkey.

Over the last couple years, however, distinct orange-waxed bottles of L’Encantada Armagnac — yes, Armagnac — have begun edging their way into these #bourbonporn posts. How did they get here?

Read more here.

L'ENCANTADA XO ARMAGNAC

L'ENCANTADA XO ARMAGNAC  - a collaboration between PM Spirits and armagnac cask hunters L’Encantada, this blended spirit is one of the most complex brandies in the world. The release is comprised of four different casks curated by L’Encantada with vintages ranging between 1987 - 1997. Each one was produced by distillers who create in the heart of their fields with a mobile alambic armagnacais still before the spirit matures in oak in Gascony. Only 1,600 bottles are available at a cask strength of 46.8% Abv.