Pierre Duchene Napoelon French Brandy

This stuff is cheap and a tad watery, but there is no nasty cherry flavor in it. It is a bit one-note, but that note is actually quite good, having a rich toffee flavor and is impressively smooth. There's a some red fruit to balance it out, but that influence is minimal and mainly makes it a bit richer. The finish is a little oily and vegetal, but in a good way. It's excellent for cooking, though if probably choose something less bland for drinking. It's smooth to the point that it tastes like water and it has a strong dose of vanilla, giving it a bourbon vibe. I kind of like it, but I sure don't love it. There is a measure of salty icing sugar, but if you sip it on its own it is thoroughly decent. There is just enough fruit for this to pass as a brandy, but there is also enough vanilla to make it kind of confusing. I wish that there were more flavor here so that it did not taste so much like water, but the fruitiness and vanilla on the finish are quite nice and most of the flavors are quite good. The nose has some orange fruits with a bit of white grape. It smells sweet, but tamed. The palate is sweet and not overly strong with some nice sweet marmalade flavor. There's also something a bit off like metal, but it isn't too bad. There's some vanilla and a bit of floral character, but also some icing sugar. It's excellent for cooking and should be fine for mixing, but I do want more from it for sipping. There's a bit of caramel, but it's light. It has a little bit of spice and harshness, but it isn't too much. This certainly doesn't taste like a VSOP - it's more like a VS. The nose needs some work and the palate is on the light and generic side. There's a bit much mineral. Still, it isn't that bad and I could imagine sipping it if the situation called for doing so. It tastes like a Cognac that is more on the orange side with some cherry presence. The burn is pretty substantial for 40% ABV, but it's manageable. A bigger sip does reveal some more off flavors though, so this isn't swill, but the mineral and metal flavors keep it from being excellent. This is pretty tough to drink, but it's definitely usable for cooking. There's a lot of powdered sugar in here and not a lot of other flavors, so it's definitely worse than Kahlua. The orange flavor tastes fake and it's just so sweet and off that it's really hard to drink. Ick.