Tasting Notes by Serge Valentin: 92 points (Whiskyfun.com)

Colour: reddish copper amber (whatever).

Nose: ooh, exotic fruits in abundance. Papayas, guavas, dried mangos… The freshness is absolutely flabbergasting, and you would still have these classic Cognac notes of raisins and tobacco and stewed peaches. To think that in theory, this was distilled during the Années Folles!

Mouth: Angus is finding strawberry liqueur and liquid tobacco, which I find appropriate. I’m finding Turkish fig wine, walnut oil (says Angus), bitter pure coco chocolate, those Gauloises again, a touch of blood orange, even a bit of kumquat (says Angus, who’s got good friends in the Flatlands)… Now it tends to become rather more medicinal and herbal, bitterer,  with bitter herbal extracts, pre-war Jägermeister (we imagine), black balsam from Riga, Latvia and walnut wine and dried mushrooms. Morels. That’s all the tannins but we constantly remain within the threshold of civilised acceptability.

Finish: it’s just amazing that it did not go drying or tea-ish. You still have these residual exotic fruits and even a little espresso and natural tar. We are defeated. Sadly not like Boris, according to the latest news.

Comments: humbling and evocative ancient Cognac. We do not know how much time it spent in wood vs. glass, but if it had spent its whole life in Quercus, which is entirely possible, we do believe in miracles again. Hallelujah. Angus says we could make great Jägerbombs out of this. I’ll take his words for it.