Le Chai Laurichesse – #3
Background
After the Laurichesse brand got its footing with the first two official (and a few independent) bottlings, they released fût 300. The stats were roughly the same as the first two bottlings: distilled sometime in the seventies, bottled at 49%, no additives, et cetera. The price, however, was not the same; it jumped about 60% from the first two releases.
The cask yielded only 140 bottles, which was less than half of what fût 104 or 301 yielded, and that may have affected the cost. Regardless, I’m hoping the quality on this cask justifies the significantly higher price tag.
Tasting
On the nose, I get leather, dark chocolate, black pepper, cherry, vanilla, and petrichor. It’s noticeably different from any of the other casks and almost armagnac adjacent.
The palate offers dark chocolate, cherry, black licorice, bitter oak, a bit of candied orange, and a quality almost reminiscent of varnish. It’s subtle, but I wish it wasn’t there. This is definitely the most intense and oaky of the four official bottlings.
Verdict
The more I tried this, the more I realized how much less I liked it than the rest. It certainly isn’t bad, but this really falls short of my expectations. Lovers of oaky armagnacs may enjoy this more, but it just ain’t for me. (6/10)
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