Welcome to our very first post here at Swine & Swill! We’ll be partaking of beer and spirits and sharing our thoughts — let’s dive right in with our premiere Swill Sampling — a look at a creamy cognac.

Olfactory notes

Caramel, brown sugar, vanilla. Despite the sweet and mellow images that come to mind with those words, there’s an astringent note that gives them an edge. I don’t know if this is indicative of cognac or just this brand. As much as I’ve learned about it and its brothers brandy and Armagnac, I’m still learning how to experience them.

Tasting notes

Ok, the aforementioned astringent note translates solely to warmth/burn on the way down. That said, the sweeter notes mentioned above really come through. “Chewing” it and letting it linger a bit on the tongue, there’s no immediate burn. After a couple seconds, you get the tingle of alcohol, but it’s not until the finish that it really takes off.

If you’ve never had this before, take it slow. Shooting this would not only make the nearest cognac aficionado (probably the buddy who bought it for you) cry, but doing so will probably make you cry. I promise you, this isn’t a challenge … (because if you take it as one, I will laugh hysterically as they haul your ass to the hospital. No mercy.)

I’m not sure how this stacks up to other cognacs, but it’s nice. I also may never prefer cognac to a good Scotch (think Balvenie, not Lagavulin), though I wouldn’t mind this as a change of pace.

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