I’m biased. I’ve loved everything I’ve had from Sagamore after first tasting their Tequila-Finished Rye. Since then, admittedly, I’ve only had the Cask Strength. But they were both top-tier, top notch drams, and based on these experiences, I’ve purchased the 8-Year, Double Oak, and Rum-Finished, even though I haven’t tasted those yet. Oh, and I asked my buddy in Chicago to pick me up a bottle of the Ale-Finished. So that should get to me at some point. Thing is, they don’t sell a lot of Sagamore around me. I did get the Tequila-Finished Rye and the Cask Strength at a local store, but I had to go to Ocean City Jersey for the 8-Year, and the other two plus this Cognac-Finished Rye, I picked up the day before Mother’s Day. My family had gone to visit an estate called Winterthur just next to the Delaware state line where there was a Total Wine, and when we finished our trip (plus a drop in on family friends), I said to my wife, hey could I pop into the Total Wine? I was actually looking for Lagavulin 16, since on the site it says it’s in the $90 range whereas here it’s $120. But they were out of stock, and with the kids and wife out in the car, I was pressed for time, so my eyes scanned the shelves for shit I can’t find in my neck of the woods and landed on Sagamore. They had more than just the Double Oak, Rum-Finished, and Cognac-Finished, but I was also operating on a limited whisky budget. So, I nabbed the ones I’d read good things about, forgoing the Cask Strength (even though I’d have loved to buy it again) and the Port Finished because it was $90 which seemed steep comparably, and this Cognac-Finished is the first of those that I’ve opened, and now it’s almost gone. In fact, I have maybe a pour or two. Some bottles we review right away, and some we wait because we simply can’t find the words. Then again, this bottle is different than the one listed here. Apparently, although I thought I was picking up the regular Cognac-Finished Rye, what this is turns out to be a special bottling for the Delaware Total Wine that’s 115 proof instead of 90-something like the standard. So I was in luck, and I didn’t even realize it (sometimes you reach for the Dickel 8-Year and get home and realize you’ve bought Dickel Recipe 8, and sometimes you try for the standard Cognac-Finish and get home with a cask strength bottle of it without realizing). Now I could put in a request for a different listing of this version of the Cognac product and have one review with one rating or I can just drop it here with this disclaimer. If you’ve had it, and wondered what it would taste like high-proof, it’s liquid gold. I gave it to my brother-in-law who thought it was a bourbon because of its sweetness if that give you any indication, but the cognac and rye blend so well that you get both golden raisins and on the nose and rye spice. On the palate it’s both sweet with the raisins and a bit of plum as well as dry and a bit oaky, but not overly oaked and the finished is rich with white pepper and cinnamon. Reading the expert review, and acknowledging the spirit might be different at 115 proof, I also taste the licorice he’s noting, but not a whole lot else from the write-up vibes with me except maybe the wine-soaked fruits. But that the plum and raisins and alcohol coming through. Honestly, I can’t wait to try the others, particularly, well, all of them. I love what Sagamore does and my only wish at this point that we could get more of the bottles in Pennsylvania. I made a joke on their Instagram that maybe it was a blockade by Dad’s Hat that prevented us from stocking them with Dad’s Hat Distiller in Bristol and Sagamore in Baltimore (you know, the great Rye Wars?), but I don’t think they were too receptive to that. Maybe because the conflict isn’t open but more of a cold war. In any case, Baltimore isn’t far, and perhaps someday a visit to the distillery to stock up may be in order. Sounds like a good birthday trip. Maybe that’s what I’ll do this year. Hotel Room, Distillery Tour, Stock up on Sagamore! Sounds like a plan.