Soba45
Fratelli Giannandrea 1885 Barricata Stravecchia
Grappa/Marc — Italy
Reviewed
December 17, 2019 (edited July 15, 2022)
Another present from across the ditch. It's been a very long time since I tried grappa from what I can remember. Nearly 20 years in Italy when we bought a bottle of cheap and nasty stuff which was well as its name suggests! This is a completely kettle of fish. There is no harshness about this one and it goes down very smoothly. Weirdly though I'm getting an overpowering smell and taste of kippers which is a first. I think like pork when they say there is a certain percentage of the population which can taste a hormone in it others can't it's a bit like that as cascodes notes have no mention of it. Maybe a side effect of drinking a bunch of mezcal then moving to grappa! I won't rate this one as I'm not sure how to to be honest but very interesting experience! Thanks @cascode.!
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@cascode Eh interesting yes my nose and taste buds were definitely influenced by the mezcal prior I think!
@Soba45 Well, Mrs Cascode's impression was different to both of ours. I poured it blind and she was expecting whisky so was pretty taken aback. At first she just said it smelled "weird" but after a while she decided that the pungent note is like off-melon skin. You know how rockmelon peel smells when it's been in the bin waiting to go out for compost for a while and it starts to get "ripe" - like that. I mention the fishy note you picked up and the linseed not I get but she didn't smell either. Curious stuff indeed, this barrel-aged grappa.
@Soba45 Oh I get what you mean all right - it is fishy if I have that in mind. I'll pour a dram for Mrs Cascode when she gets home and see what she thinks. I she says it smells like the cat's mackeral tinned food then fishy it is :-)
@cascode Yeah I'm not sure if that was the right descriptor or not as I'm generally crap at matching what I taste to the right descriptor. It was just really different/ odd.
@Soba45 That was a weird note to get - I just poured a dram to see if I sense it as well and yes, I see what you mean. I get that aroma as a combination of grape-seed oil, piney oak resin and lots and lots of linseed oil (it smells a bit like an oiled cricket bat). However if I think about kippers then I do sense the aroma of oily fish. The longer it rests in the glass and opens the less I sense the fishiness and the more I get a grapey note.
@cascode Yeah I think it's a bit like having a curry it completely stuffed my palate. Really enjoyed the mezcals you sent so far. I'm cutting loose tonight..I think I've had several drams already out of your and @PBMichiganWolverine stashes!