courvoisier XO

Thats brandy isnt ?

MacDeffe

This is a decent cognac (XO is entry level drinkability by my standards), which you ought to drink if you like cognac. If you mix it with Coke or 7-up, you may be subject to eternal suffering in the firey pits of hell. A new bottle of this sort would run around $150 retail. Better cognacs can be had for that price, but if I had this, I would drink it. Cognac, like other spirits, does not age in the bottle, so the condition should be as it would be if just bottled.

In case you are really unaware (I don't know if you are or are not), the general rating is VSOP (complete crap), VS (still crap), then XO, which is drinkable. In terms of rap clout, this particular brand has lost something in recent years to Hennessy, or "Henny"--this is probably very important to you, and therefore the time to drink would be now!

John

Lol, thanks, this bottle isn't new though, i'm looking at pictures online of new bottles and it looks different, the label is all french on mine and doesn't say % or size.

This is analagous to saying that Macallan 25 is "entry level drinkability" by [your] standards, which marks you as having a remakably advanced palate, or being filthy rich, or being a pompous ass. I don't know you, so I won't guess. 8;)

Always available for slightly under US $100 in major east coast cities.

A personal and subjective judgement.

Hennessey has for decades been my favorite of the mass-marketed XOs, but I surely haven't seen this increase in popularity reflected in availability in US bars. In our current drinking experience, both Remy and Courvoisier remain much better known in the US.

-- Larry

Who is unaware?

Bzzzt. Thanks for playing. Come back when you're aware.

cheers,

Henry

Yeah, I see what some people are saying here about crass comments.

I really tried to get it with cognac. Going to masterglasses (oops classes) on whisky/spiritfestivals and drinking from my friend bottles.

But I find them quite boring and too sweet compared to even ordinary standard malts

On the master class, hold by a house called Pierre ferrand I learned that all cognac are coloured and sugar-added. Thats prolly why it aint me

MacDeffe

Well, (1) I do have a reasonably advanced palate, (2) I'm a doctoral student supported by my wife who is a public school teacher (I'd be rich in Paraguay, maybe), and (3) your crass reply suggests that you have already labeled me a pompous ass...but then the subsequent emoticon, which appears to be a winking man wearing a brazier on his forehead, or a bug-eyed Frenchman whose moustache was clipped on one side, suggests otherwise. If I point out all of your misspellings would it confer your inclination? Smart ass is probably much closer to the truth; I'm too immature to be considered pompous > ...A new bottle of this sort would run around $150 retail...

Indeed, but as prices vary, I threw this out a (high) ballpark retail figure.

Maybe. But so is saying that better whisky than JW black can be had for the same price. I like JW black, but if I were given a $30 gift certificate to Park Ave Liq, I would be looking at malts. Also an opinion, but one that is informed and easily justifiable.

For example, a far better (IMSD(super-duper)HO) cognac in that price range would be Ferrand Selection de Agnes. Plus, to technically reduce my statement to sheer opinion, one would have to contend that Courvoissier XO is indisputably as good as or better than all other $100 cognacs. That would also be a person and subjective judgment, and probably not one that you would have unless you were a marketing rep. for Courvoisier! By my statement I was not suggesting that CV XO is garbage (it's quite good, actually), but that other cognacs exist beyond the big 4, and that some of them are better values.

I've actually never tried it, and because I prefer malts and am now very poor, I have not been able to justify its purchase. Should I reconsider do you think? If not, what would you offer as the best $100 cognac? I'd love to know, because getting cognac suggestions on this group is pretty hit-or-miss, and I'm always open to suggestions. Thanks.

Bzzzt, thanks for playing? I hope that's not your best. An FWIW, you have misinterpreted my sarcasm as arrogance. I'll try to use more emoticons in the future to help you out. ;-)

And just to clarify, are you actually suggesting that VS is drinkable, or were you just demonstrating your e-prowess? ;-) ;-) ;-)

Cheers, ;-) John ;-)

They're not misspellings; they're typos, caused by the effect recent eye surgery has had on my depth perception, and thus my two-fingered typing... not to mention my tennis and pool shooting. 8;(

...and I think you misused the word "crass." 8;)

Ah, a man after my own heart.

In general, Cognac is much more expensive in the US than whisky for an equivalent level of quality. The main problem I have with Cognac is its sweetness -- I find it's not very useful as a digestif. For that purpose both my wife and myself find that either Armagnac or top-quality Salignac (extremely hard to find in the US) is much more enjoyable, and calvados is unbeatable.

It's one that I happen to agree with, but others might not. I know a couple of people who think that Courvoisier XO is the finest drink they have ever tasted.

No, I don't think so. You can do better. And you can always sample the mass-marketed XOs when you come upon them reasonably priced in a bar, which happens occasionally.

My favorite Cognacs that I've found in the US in that price regionwould be:

1. Kelt XO
2. Delamain Vesper
3. Hine Antique
4. Meukow XO

But the real eye opener was last year, when my wife and I spent a few days in the beautiful town of Cognac. Besides visiting the distilleries, we spent those evenings after dinner working our way through the 100+ better-than-VSOP offerings at the Cognac Cafe, right next to our hotel. Most of them were amazingly fine, much more distinctive in character than the mass blends available in the US. The Meukows were new to us at that point, as were the products of the Larsen distillery ("the Cognac of the Vikings"). We brought back a bottle of the Larsen XO especially distilled and bottled to commemorate the Vikings' discovery of America; it is spectacular. (Of course, it helps if your last name is Larsen or Larson, as mine is!) Unfortunately, I have yet to find Larsen Cognac in the US.

We highly recommend Cognac over Bordeaux as a destination if you're ever in that region of France and don't have time for both.

BTW, where are you located?

-- Larry (crass to the end; this is the end.)

Still don't get it? OK, let me walk you through, step by step.

You said

This is simply wrong. The 'general rating' hierarchy for cognac brandy is as follows: VS, _then_ VSOP, then XO.

You made the quip that you were providing your 'general rating' sequence in case the original poster was 'unaware'. Then you demonstrated that it was in fact _you_ who was unaware. Ha ha.

cheers,

Henry

No, I get it. My humor can be a bit cryptic (or stupid, many would say). The joke is that VSOP, VS, and *** (which ironically serves as a variation of @!*&#...) are all the same and therefore interchangeable in that they can only be used as mixers or, more likely, status symbols for the lower classes (i.e. "cognac = the good life), with the same intention as gilded furniture, surf n' turf, lead crystal, white suits, heart shaped jacuzzis, and anything else that stinks of very poor taste (especially if inspired by Rococco or Colonial America), purchased expressly for the purpose of bridging oneself to the "other half." Or, to coin my own phrase, Daddy Warbucks would be proud. Omigosh, I'm beginning to sound a bit smug. Heavens to Betsy, no high tea for me! Anyway, you are indeed correct. ;-)

Another poster used the term to describe me, I think. Crass my ass!!

No, I'm not really into that sort of thing. I'm happily married ;-) UH, I MEAN, UH >:-/ Whachoo lookin at?!

My dad is partial to Coors Light. It used to only be available in the Western United States, and now it can be purchased anywhere that fine crafted beers or venison jerky are sold.

WOW!!! Last summer I was stranded in an airport in Queensland and sampled about six malts. I'm lucky to have ever made it home! I think after sampling 100+ cognacs I wouldn't be able to perceive taste...or sight...or how to get back to the hotel next door!

You mean you don't know which? See, that's what happens when you drink

100 glasses of cognac, have eight fingers lopped off, and birds peck your eyes.

I just moved from Utah (home of the LDS church, which nobody outside of Utah knows is the technically correct code (remarkably close to how LSD might look if you took some) for Mormons), where I was unable to find almost anything I wanted. Fortunately many states have laws that allow them to illegally ship booze. Oh, my apologies to any Mormon lurkers who may be doing "research" here for their Gentile friends ;-)

My wife is a teacher of the French language and culture and has lived in France three times. We had our honeymoon in the Savoie region and, sadly, I've not been back since. I'll work this into my extensive roster of fantasy theme-based French tours (cathedral tour; Caville-Coll pipe organ tour, particularly involving the major posts of well-known late 19th/early 20th C organ-composers); legendary stages of the Tour de France tour; lesser-known not-available-in-the-US cheese tour; wine tour (esp for white Burgundy); cuisine tour; farm community/regional cuisine tour; ski tour, museum tour...)

For nearly two weeks now, in beautiful Columbus, OH, USA. Anyone who does not know where that is, look for the proverbial armpit of the world, which is West Virginia, and it's right next to that. You?

John