PBMichiganWolverine
L'Encantada Domaine Le Frêche 1988 #17 (K and L)
Armagnac — Bas Armagnac, France
Reviewed
November 13, 2021 (edited November 14, 2021)
I really like what these guys are doing. L’Encantada is a small bottler that scopes out Armagnac from micro-producers —-we’re talking farmers that do this in their barn producers. It’s an ultra-niche area, and that means getting your hands on great products that simply don’t have the benefits of a distribution outlet.
This one here is from the region le Freche, so probably from several micro producers. About 30yt old , and now discontinued.
This is grape jelly meets chocolate. You gotta love grape jelly…if you don’t, then you won’t be a fan. Great viscous mouth coating with a heavy amount of chocolate and grapes.
Another amazing bottling ..and if I recall correctly, it was about $100 when it came out ( who knows now…since it’s from a discontinued source ). So that makes for an amazing VFM. Try finding a 30 yr discontinued whiskey for that price. ( you’ll find it for close to $1000).
Really thankful to @ctbeck11 for sharing a pour!
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@PBMichiganWolverine Hail Yak
@PBMichiganWolverine @Richard-ModernDrinking Thanks!
In general, there may better vfm than whiskey found in Armagnac, cognac, rum and calvados. I’ve found 25+ year old Armagnac and cognacs for sub$100. I bought a couple bottles of 40+ year old cognacs for sub $250 (from blue chip producers & negociants) and a few bottles of 50+ year old Armagnacs for sub-$350! Good luck finding any 40+ year old whiskey for less than $5K, much less 50 year olds. Gotta have at least $10K for so so distilleries like Glen Moray. If a blue chipper, then at least $20K! Btw, does anyone know why the half-century mark is the age at which whiskey price becomes a small country’s national budget? It usually takes a MAJOR SIGNIFICANT jump once it hits 50. Wtf.
@Anthology just to add…there’s a specific one from Pibous that was really good…Hail Mary or Hal Bak…something like that
@Anthology This new one is a New York exclusive from distributor PM Spirits, limited to 324 bottles.
@Anthology i have a bottle of the Pibous, which I bought some years back. I got it from Astor Wines in NYC. I believe they still have it, but might be a newer or different vintage
@Richard-ModernDrinking Where did you find Pibous? If they ship, may need to grab me some.
@Richard-ModernDrinking that’s it. I give up. Switching to apple cider. That’s still affordable. For now
The price of these are following whisky's trajectory now, unfortunately. I just bought their latest Pibous cask, a 1994 vintage, for $200. Similar bottles were $125 not long ago.
@Bourbon_Obsessed_Lexington curious to get your take on it once you try it
I might have just pulled the trigger on an online order… need to test the hypothesis that these are all solid
@ctbeck11 yeah absolutely. I’m lately been barking a lot about how whiskey is getting really bad VFM, and between retailers and distillers, we’re getting screwed royally. If we look outside whiskey, there are amazing options like this, and even rum like Foursquare, and Hampton.
Love this stuff. Glad to hear you’re a fan too. I think I paid $130 from K&L. Had one of my buddies who lives in SF smuggle it over for me. Worth every penny.