Rating: 12/23 N: The nose is unfortunately quite youthful. It isn't quite sulphuric, but I smell the feints from the distillation process clearly. There's some floral, sweet fruitiness as well, with sort of a chalky confectioner's sugar minerality. The smells do kind of blend together in an OK way and there's a decent balance. I get a bit of ethanol, but the feints are more of what I'm getting. P: Sort of a bubblegummy floral fruitiness with a light green wood bitter herbaceousness. Thin, mild, and full of minerals as well. This makes me think of a younger, watered-down ABK6 VSOP. Ah, the spices come in and they burn a bit. Black pepper. That interesting herbaceous - sort of herbs de provence - feinty flavor does work pretty well here by adding some complexity, though it also makes this taste more youthful, particularly when combined with that faint touch of sulphur that comes through. I wouldn't call this harsh, but it does burn and I do taste plenty of the alcohol. F: Spice, herbaceousness, bubble gum, floral, perhaps faint fruit. Still the alcohol. - Conclusion - This is not a good brandy. It's far from the worst and I wouldn't be too upset picking it up for under $15, but what they're charging for it is outrageous. ABK6 VSOP is less and Rémy Martin 1738 isn't that much more. A De Fussigny probably has a VSOP in this range that is much better than this one too. As much as I dislike the youthful alcohol flavor here, I find it a whole lot better than that pure ethanol hit that Glendalough Double Barrel (9/23) has. Despite being super youthful and a bit too feinty, I would probably take this over the Glendalough. There is no way that this is a 14. I'm thinking a 10 at least. Essentially, this is good execution of a spirit that is just too young to be bottling. The youth is obvious here and I'd prefer that it weren't but it isn't sulphuric or industrial so much as light and tarry. It's OK. This has been growing on me. At one point, I thought I might give this an 8. Now, I'm looking at an 11. I can understand someone going higher because of the interesting flavors and smoothness, but this tastes flawed to me. After many (MANY) side by sides, this has grown on me, but I think it's stuck in the 11 to 12 range. Surprisingly, I'm going with a 12. I like the moderate complexity and lack of obviously flawed youthful flavors (sulphur and industry, mostly). It still tastes young and not good, but I'd be fine drinking it.