Armagnac
Like Cognac, Armagnac is grape brandy made in a particular region in France, though this region is a bit further to the south. Armagnac uses the same grapes as Cognac, plus the addition of baco blanc. More notably, Armagnac is not pot distilled but rather is distilled in column stills, and it is only distilled once instead of twice. Because of these factors, Armagnac is typically a bit less fruity and more floral than Cognac. Armagnac uses similar VS/VSOP/XO designations for age as Cognac.
Top Armagnac Posts:
What’s the Difference Between Cognac and Armagnac?
Chateau du Tariquet Armagnacs – Blanche, VS Classique, VSOP, XO, and 1993 Vintage
Marquis de Montesquiou Armagnac VSOP and XO
The recent launch of Raj Bhakta‘s Hogsworth came with raised eyebrows and OK reviews — the blend of Armagnac and bourbon being a head-scratcher that at least sort of worked. Now Bhakta is back with a new Hogsworth — not a new Batch release of the original bottling but a whole new expression called Hogsworth The…
Raj Bhakta is one of the most colorful personalities in the spirits world. And I know this from personal experience. I hung out with him for a few days at his brand campus/booze camp in Vermont, Bhakta-Griswold. Part of my time spent there involved a deep dive on this newest offering, Hogsworth. As the founder…
Back in 2023, David was one of the first journalists to visit Bhakta-Griswold, the brand campus-cum-booze camp owned by the notorious spirit innovator Raj Bhakta. The stories he recounted of this former Vermont college that now houses and showcases one of the largest vintage spirits collections in the country were, in a word, unusual. It…
Ho ho ho! Forget milk and cookies, what Santa needs this year is a shot of good, hard alcohol to help get him through whatever 2025 has in store for us. Shopping is tough, so if you’re considering a special bottle for a special someone in your life, look no further. We have you covered…
There are a couple of theories regarding how bourbon came to be aged in charred oak barrels. Perhaps the most plausible theory lies in the fact that the French mature brandy in toasted wood barrels. In the era of bourbon infancy, Cognac was a known luxury French spirit. Did Americans begin using charred or toasted…
Best known for their highly-aged brandy, Raj Bhakta’s eponymous spirits brand is making moves into other categories, including whiskey. They released an Armagnac-cask finished bourbon earlier in 2023, and they’ve also dabbled in rum. Now, they’re mixing up something different altogether: a blended spirits that’s 60 percent rye whiskey, 30 percent Calvados, and 10 percent…
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some festivities in the form of holiday revelry. Naturally, the holidays mean gift-giving time is nigh, and you’re going to want recommendations for what to wrap up and stash under the tree. As always, this year we want your gift-giving to make a statement, but we…
On a busy street in Paris’s 8th Arrondisement, you’ll find the official headquarters of Armagnac Castarede, the oldest Armagnac producer still operating. At the end of my recent Cognac-focused trip to France, I called up the office on a lark, only to find that proprietor Florence Castarede was actually on site and would readily welcome…
Entrepreneur and media personality Raj Bhakta built a hallmark whiskey brand by founding WhistlePig, and he’s using his storytelling playbook to grow another — this time eponymous — spirits bottler with Bhakta Spirits. Known for launching with 50+ year old Armagnacs, Bhakta has more recently branched out into both younger brandy blends and single vintage…
La Maison & Velier is a French-Italian collaboration looking to bring an array of spirits into broader distribution, including whiskey and brandy. Today we look at the first five Armagnac bottlings from LM&V, all small production, single vintage, single cask offerings dating back to 1990 distillation dates. If you’ve heard of any of these producers…