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DESERVING AWARD

From the bottle, it has won the IWSC Gold Award in 2011, I didn’t notice it till I write my review. I’d say it deserved the award. Made from vines of 40 to 70 years old, at 42 degree abv, it totally didn’t feel like an over dose of alcohol. Very smooth content, with a very long finishing. It didn’t need to shout to grab anyone’s attention. Very complex taste yet smooth, and totally tame on ferocity. Very deserving to win an award for this Cognac, highly recommended!

EXTRA OLD COGNAC

XO means Extra Old in Cognac terms, so I was eager to try and judge myself how good or bad it was. Made from 20-30 years old vines, this was a family run Cognac house that has been ongoing for 5 generations, admirable stamina!

Wasn’t quite my type of Cognac, it was sharp and attacking, with heavy vanilla tastes, and the alcohol was too much to cause chokes. I would expect Cognac to be sophisticated and complex, this one definitely needs improvement as it was a tad too simple.

FREE WINE

Was staying in Hyatt, so my family was entitled to free nimbles and wines at the Regency Club level. Alcohol is not cheap in Thailand except for their own produced beers like Singha. So any wine is better than nothing, moreover it’s free.

Don’t expect it to be wine, more like diluted grape juice to me. At 12% abv, it was almost tasteless, although the Sauvignon Blanc’s grassy character was prominent. I had a glass and moved on to elsewhere.

NOWHERE TO RUN

I am having a holiday in Phuket, and was having some street seafood, obviously not in an upmarket restaurant. Choices of white wines were so limited there’s only ONE wine to choose from! The famous Jacob’s Creek. I’d still prefer wine over beer for seafood, and I can only pray hard.

Obvious fruity nose with a hint of oak (perhaps wood chips). Content was one dimensional; fruity and relatively thick, there’s no complexity per say. Cool off some spicy Thai chili and job is done.

MISSING LEMON AND LIME

This liqueur was supposedly infused with lemon and lime. Prior to tasting this liqueur, I was tasting their signature coffee liqueur, and I even changed a glass to taste this after my first failed sip to detect any flavor and character. This liqueur was way too sweet it totally masked the lemon and lime infusion. Suggestion to winemaker; taste it next to their coffee liqueur to make a better liqueur.

BLENDED SCOTCH WHISKY

I was not very impressed with this blended Scotch Whisky, as I find nothing really special in it, I’d prefer a single malt anytime.

It was too predictable, with very straight forward taste. Lacked complexity, and unexciting, the only saving grace was the smoothness of the whisky. But where’s the fiery and choky oak barrel notes? Not to be found at all. So I really don’t understand why they’re priced more than a single malt? Anyone enlighten me please?

OVER-OAKED

One of the more respected Riesling makers in Alsace, but I was truly less impressed with this vintage. Perhaps not a great vintage, I detected an overwhelming amount of fine oaks, but Trimbach doesn’t use oak to age their wines! So where’s this oak profile coming from? Perhaps stems and vines? I can barely taste some pineapples and dried apricots. Saving grace was that, when the wine was chilled, it gave a very fresh pineapple taste. When the wine warmed up, it tasted more of a dried pineapple.

COFFEE LIQUEUR

I enjoyed a cup of coffee in the afternoon, and perhaps in the future I would love to have a glass of this coffee infused Cognac liqueur for a change. Made from 100% fresh Arabica coffee beans from Brazil, I can truly appreciate the freshness of the coffee beans that really perked me up instead of making me drowsy! Really fresh coffee on the nose as well as the palate, better than Khalua or any other coffee liqueur I’ve ever come across. Highly recommended for coffee lovers!