Appearance: Crystal clear, slightly thick and glycerous in appearance. Nose: Pears from here until morning, but not an artificial or “amplified “ pear aroma. It’s precisely like a piece of fresh fruit. Behind this is an oily aroma. Taste and Texture: Pears. Fresh almost-ripe green pears. The texture is full but the palate is drying, just like unripe pears. Not at all sweet or cloying. Fresh, clean and warming. The first taste may be a little off-putting as you will expect something like a pear liqueur, but that is not at all what we have here. This is not sweet and it's unlike any typical liqueur. It is dry, but with sweet notes, and the pear flavour is intense and pervading. This genuinely tastes like eating a pear suffused with alcohol - a starburst of intense fruit in high quality spirit. However I can't escape the feeling that this would be more at home as a quality flavouring ingredient in a dessert or sweet sauce, or ice-cold in a small glass as a digestif with strong sweet coffee. Eau-de-vie can refer to several things, but in this case it is unaged new-make fruit brandy. If you have tried grappa and not been impressed then give this a try instead. It is lighter and does not have the oily pomace-derived notes common to grappa. La Cigogne was founded by Auguste Peureux in 1864 in Fougerolles, Lorraine. The distillery specialises in the production of fruit brandies and to this day they remain one of the major producers of eaux-de-vie in France. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)