Philiippe Giraud broke with five generations of family history in the cognac business to enter the Scotch industry before setting up his own company in 2012 to blend and distill French single malt. Its current core range comprises two blends of whiskies sourced from French distilleries such as Rozelieures and Warenghem and matured in casks used for extra old cognac. The scarcity of such casks means its output is very limited and its availability outside France restricted mainly to New York to date. That scarcity, and a strategy to market it as a luxury product, means its cheapest product, Heritage, carries a price tag of $150, an ambitious ask for a unknown company from a country yet to make a significant impact on world whisky. True, its whiskies come in beautiful cut-glass bottles worth displaying, but it’s the liquid inside that counts at the end of the day (which under pandemic drinking rules is no later than 5pm in my book.) I am happy to report that if you are comfortable spending that amount on a 12-year-old Japanese blend then will be very pleased with Heritage. It’s a blend of three unpeated whiskies aged mainly in cognac casks but with some French limousin and American oak barrels in the mix. A final marriage in cognac casks brings everything together. The nose brings to mind butter melting on croissants. In the mouth, it’s richly flavored with notes of creamy butter and bread, a slight grassy element, gentle spice and a hint of sweetness in the finish. That might sound quite pedestrian but the intensity of the flavors and the balance is perfect. It has the elegance you find in a lot of Japanese whiskies, which was in fact the profile Giraud was striving for. I’m hard pressed to think how you could improve a whisky of this genre - it’s pure uncomplicated pleasure. I liked its peated companion Harmony too, though I’d rate it a notch lower. With the company now making its own whisky to incorporate into its blends, Alfred Giraud is one to watch.