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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $214.93
A fascinating 40-year-old spirit – Speyside by way of the tropics. Expressive aromas and flavors of both fleshy...
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VM
93
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $39.93 $40.80
12 bottles: $39.13
Solid, good-value 10-year-old from Grande Champagne. Golden in color, offering bright, warm notes of apricot, plum...
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VM
91
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $39.94
12 bottles: $39.14
This five-year-old from Grand Champagne is a fine example of a young, all-around Cognac that can be sipped and also...
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VM
94
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $74.94 $76.80
12 bottles: $73.44
Age makes all the difference in Grande Champagne, and at 20 years old, this Cognac has begun to show its elegance and...
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VM
95
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $37.94 $40.80
12 bottles: $29.64
Scented with baked apple and vanilla, this amber-hued brandy—aged three to four years—shows oak, cedar and...
WE
91
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $47.43 $51.00
12 bottles: $41.04
TOP 100 SPIRITS 2015. Almost like dessert in a glass, this deep topaz-hued Cognac has a scent that evokes baked apple...
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94
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $104.95 $111.60
12 bottles: $102.85
TOP 100 SPIRITS 2020. An enjoyable mix of fruit, cocoa and spice makes this ideal for sipping or dessert pairing....
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WE
97
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $30.13 $32.40
12 bottles: $22.80
A blend of unfermented grape juice mixed with unaged brandy then aged together for 18 months in oak. 17% abv
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $95.71 $102.91
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $62.82 $69.80
Dark golden yellow, amber. Delicate vanilla oak scent, touch of port wine. Rose and violet. Fruity and jamy: apricot...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $39.92 $41.10
12 bottles: $37.91
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $32.36 $34.80
12 bottles: $30.78
Number 19 in the 2020 Top 20. This new, higher proof Iwai (pronounced EE-why) was designed for cocktails; however,...
WKY
91
Sale
Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $47.43 $51.00
12 bottles: $43.32
This carmine dram has a soft, mellow nose of raisin, earthy red wine notes, wet slate, prune flesh, stewed rhubarb,...
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WKY
88
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $167.40 $349.94
Showing an attractive straw-gold color, this mature whisky has bright flavors of baked cereal grains, toasted vanilla...
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UBC
92
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $43.89 $46.79
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $48.94 $51.59
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $67.94
The aroma of this 7-year-old cognac reveals scents of ripe apricot, dried fig, cedar-wood, and vanilla, with a trace...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $23.34 $25.10
12 bottles: $22.71
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $87.93 $90.59
Takamine Koji Whiskey is made with the patented Takamine Process, which uses an ancient Japanese mold, koji, to...
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Spirits
750ml
Bottle: $148.80
6 bottles: $145.82
Produced by Braastaad-Tiffon and named after the family’s castle, this “family reserve” is blended from Grande...
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VM
95

Champagne Blend Cognac Japanese Whiskey NV 750ml Spirit

The sparkling wines of Champagne have been revered by wine drinkers for hundreds of years, and even today they maintain their reputation for excellence of flavor and character, and are consistently associated with quality, decadence, and a cause for celebration. Their unique characteristics are partly due to the careful blending of a small number of selected grape varietals, most commonly Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These grapes, blended in fairly equal quantities, give the wines of Champagne their wonderful flavors and aromas, with the Pinot Noir offering length and backbone, and the Chardonnay varietal giving its acidity and dry, biscuity nature. It isn't unusual to sometimes see Champagne labeled as 'blanc de blanc', meaning it is made using only Chardonnay varietal grapes, or 'blanc de noir', which is made solely with Pinot Noir.

For over three hundred years, Cognac has enjoyed its reputation as the king of brandies. Indeed, it is widely regarded as the finest drink to be distilled from grapes to be found anywhere in the world, and it is a testament to its producers and the master craftsmen who make it that this reputation has never faltered, and remains as strong as ever to this day.

Cognac is produced solely in the beautiful towns of Cognac and Jarnac, found about fifty miles north of Bordeaux, on the west coast of France. Here, around six thousand grape growers work exclusively in the production of white wine, used for the Cognac distilleries which are scattered throughout the region. The wines are made primarily from the Ugni Blanc or Trebbiano grape - one of the most commonly planted grape varietals in the world - which benefit from the cool, coastal climate and mineral rich soils which are found there. The wines themselves wouldn’t be suitable for drinking in themselves, as they are high in acid and low in alcohol, but this makes them ideal for distillation, and they can impart their wonderful, complex, rich flavors to the brandy.

Cognac varies quite significantly from bottle to bottle, depending on how long it has been aged for, and which appellation it comes from. The Cognac region is split into six separate Crus, all with their own distinctive characteristics, and the spirit can be aged from two years (VS) to six (Hors d’Age and Napoleon) and longer.

Whisky might not be the first thing that springs to mind when we think of Japanese fine produce, but over the past one hundred years, this fascinating and multi-faceted country has diligently forged a unique whisky identity which is growing in popularity, and which is entirely its own.

The story of Japanese whisky begins in 1918, when Masataka Taketsuru was sent to Scotland to undertake a tour of single malt distilleries in the Highlands, and bring home a knowledge of whisky and distillation skills. He returned full of inspiration, helped no doubt by his new Scottish wife, and alongside his friend, Shinjiro Torii, set up what would become a successful whisky industry.

Today, the Japanese whisky industry is spread over a relatively small handful of distilleries, which continue to use Scottish techniques and recipes, but with a hefty dose of distinctly Japanese experimentalism. This is displayed most obviously in the barrelling techniques the Japanese use - to create a distinctly Oriental set of tasting notes, native Japanese oakwood casks are used for ageing, alongside casks taken from plum wine producers, which impart a beautiful set of floral flavors to the whisky.

While some distilleries produce some excellent single malts, the majority of Japanese whiskies are blended, which reveals a unique set of flavors and aromas ranging from honeysuckle and orange blossom, to toffee and acetone.