E&J VSOP Brandy

For a brandy, it’s not too inspiring. Too light in color as youth shows it’s age. Too light on the palate with its cherries and young purple grapes. Some vanilla in the back. Given a choice, I would go with Paul Masson over this.

-Pretty strong and disgusting

Works great for cooking or a lower cost Sidecar or flip

Very bold vanilla and caramel. Strong sweetness and a noticable lack of burn. Great for those who enjoy a smooth caramel drink.

Mostly unoffensive. It’s cheap and tastes as such. Bit of a bitter aftertaste. Lots of vanilla and fruit on the palate though. Sweet but not overly so. Good to have on hand as an after drinking night cap where you’re not going to appreciate much nuance from an expensive pour.

Sweet, dark berries, vanilla cream, dark chocolate, caramel, tart cherry

So story goes I bought a bottle of this back in 2007 on the suggestion of “bring some brandy in a flask when you go skiing” so I picked up a cheap bottle of brandy. This bottle has sat up at our mountain home since then collecting dust and has been slowly getting lower and lower as we have friends come and go at our home. Fast forward 11 years later and I’ve found I enjoy whiskey so I thought I’d give it another go. With that being said, I think this bottle got smoother and flattened out over the last 11 years. I’d probably not buy this now that I’m into whiskeys and tequilas but I’m glad I revisited this bottle and I won’t let it go to waste.