Rather than the very standard 12, I'm using the Glenlivet 15(French Oak finish) as my baseline comparison for this, it seems fair and being somewhat of a "scotch cripple" I need a decent reference point of what I'm looking at. Right away the nose of the 14 is impressive, sweet red grapes mixed with a bit o honey mead and faint sea salt, my bourbon bone is already hooked. This is what the good stuff should smell like, clearly cognac finishing is a step in the right direction. The front kicks in with some warm pepper and cinnamon along with tamer than expected sweet notes. I'm not going to lie, I was really hoping for a belt of bourbon sugars but this is a nicely balanced warm, sweet and spicy scotch, instead. It's a bit lacking in complexity, not much tartness or range in sugars, things we might have expected the cognac to bring forth are not really overwhelming. If fades out gently with nothing notable on the back side, the spice warmness lingering. In comparison the 15 year French Oak just seems bland, no red grape sweetness and dryer with just some small tanins from the oak. If you offered me either bottle it would be hands down, no choice for the 14. The french oak offers next to no complexity by comparison to what the cognac brings. The french oak 15 does have a nice nose offering some tart fruit sweetness, but those nose notes become phantoms when the liquid hits the tongue. This bottle would seemingly check in somewhere around 10 dollars over the standard 12 year, at which point it becomes a modest but welcome improvement. Can recommend. Cheers!