St. Rémy XO

Fresh from the bottle there is some acetone on the nose, along with the ethanol. After a few minutes of swirling a rich nose of figs, raisins, cherries and butterscotch well up. There is still the trace of ethanol and a slightly sharp edge on the nose. Taste is sweet, not complex, and biased towards figs with a bit of black coffee on the gentle fade. Just a few simple flavor notes. Really not a bad drink at all and could be very mixable in a number of cocktails. Maybe even in a highball? Worth checking out... I wouldn't have this in a snifter after dinner, but I'd sip it from a flask on the golf course during the cold months! I like it. But I don't love it, and probably wouldn't buy another bottle. That said, at a price under $20 this is a very good value. This could be useful the kitchen and as a mixer in any number of applications. I'd like to use this to fortify a home made sangria for the holidays!

If you suddenly change from wiskey to this you will find it very friendly and very sugary in the first 10 seconds. After that it is just sickly sweet that you don't want to continue anymore. There is not much complicity in this one unlike XO.

Some ethanol on the nose with sweet caramel