Comments on my notes

N.V. Pierre Ferrand Grande Champagne Cognac Selection des Anges Ugni Blanc, Trebbiano

9/4/2013 - numen wrote:

68 points

from a purchased sample

Nose: Toffee and brown sugar flambe crust, a touch light, along with some gentle quince and plum jam. Cinnamon, spice, stewing orange in brown sugar syrup. Fairly well balanced with general orange and light-brown tones, and some oak influence. Diluted, yet otherwise fine here. Whiff of some artificial sweetness in the trail. Decent and otherwise pleasant, just shows all the usual elements of an over-light and over-watered blend.

Palate: Spice and odd funky wood. Off-sweet, off-bitter, just... strangely funky. There are some of the usual fruit notes - orange (burned skin), cherry, quince, and some strange artificial sweet taste along with sugar-sweet water. Ah, the common mark of the common cognac.

Finish: Some wood, providing balance, sappy watery sweetness, and some indistinct grape and plum. The funky note, sweetness, and watery quality make this a rather disappointing tipple. The 1840 showed promise, but I'm not sure what happened here. Bad sample?

numen commented:

4/30/16, 5:33 PM - jsjoe, it's not an emotional rating. If you look through many of my reviews, you'll see that I gave low scores to spirits that were watery, sugary-watery (giving a sense of artificial sweetener), and odd-wood/minimal fruit. All three were present here.

Maybe it was a poor sample (Master of Malt), but I doubt it.
numen commented:

12/30/21, 1:51 PM - @jsjoe, your tasting profile may well be very different to mine. I think that my scoring is hardly "misguided." It reflects my sense of what makes for a good or bad spirit. In this case a purchased sample had markings of a poorly or cheaply made spirit that I find very off-putting. Your sense of taste may be very different and either you didn't notice it, it doesn't bother you as it does me, or, perhaps, we've had different batches that vary greatly.

I do not know what you mean to say that my score and comments are not "in the spirit of community scoring." You have stated that my score and notes were a mistake and should be deleted. I hadn't realized that you were the ultimate arbiter of acceptability and tasting and that all people's experience must needs be bound within a range that you deem acceptable. If I taste a spirit that I think is very poorly made and off-putting to me, I will provide a score that reflects that.

I'm glad that you enjoy the cognac tremendously and find it "angelic." I'd be curious to get your thoughts on other spirits that I've consumed and for which I have posted notes.

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Spirits

N.V. Tesseron Lot #65 XO Emotion Grande Fine Champagne Cognac Ugni Blanc, Trebbiano

6/8/2013 - pizzler wrote:

96 points

This is a wonderful Tesseron, comparable to the Lot 23, though it lacks as much complexity or price of the Lot 23. We tasted them back to back and there were more similarities than differences between the two. I felt there was a significant gap between Lots 65 and 23 and the rest of the available Lots (90, 76, and 53). A beautiful nose, smooth to the taste, rich in flavor, and a long aftertaste. It's harder to find than other Tesseron's but worth the search.

numen commented:

6/26/13, 7:44 PM - Is this a decanter-only release? Also, I believe you mean the Lot 29 :)

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Spirits

N.V. The Macallan Single Malt Scotch Whisky 15 Year Fine Oak Easter Elchies

10/4/2011 - numen wrote:

74 points

Have tasted multiple times, and, each time, am hoping to be wowed, impressed, or at least satisfied with the spirit. Instead, I have been consistently disappointed. The backbone is good -- a winey, floral, and light spirit. The execution, however, left much to be desired for me. The palate is thin, and the finish is short.

numen commented:

6/11/13, 3:11 AM - My favorite Highland (not Lowland or Speyside) whisky would be a Brora or Clynelish. Brora is very expensive if you can find it, and Clynelish is the successor to the style (more or less) and typically has a waxy, smoky, honey, and fruity (lemon) flavor profile.

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Spirits

1967 Tomintoul Samaroli Speyside Malt

11/4/2012 - yofog wrote:

96 points

Delicate, not so dark as expected. Amazing. Licorice, herbs, spice, rancio, extremely refined, basically flawless spirit. No alcoholic fiery or bite is left, it's evolved beyond that, and is my ultimate scotch to date, potentially redefining the category for me.

numen commented:

2/9/13, 1:38 PM - Thanks for the tasting notes. I've been looking into this bottle and wondered whether it had the nutty/oily/praline profile to it, thanks!
numen commented:

2/9/13, 3:28 PM - Thanks for the follow-up! I really appreciate it. I find your notes very useful; you actually provide tasting notes, and your scores are well-considered, so when I saw your take on this, the expression certainly seemed special.

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