More French Whiskey: Rozelieures Single Malts

Lately, we seem to be getting a lot of new single malts from France. The latest to land at my door is a quartet of single malts from G. Rozelieures. These malts come from Lorraine, where the family grows its own barley. They are all peated to some degree and are aged in a variety of casks.

Rozelieures Origine Collection, 4 years old, 40% abv ($50)

This whiskey is aged in sherry and Cognac casks. It has a nice nose with malt, light peat, and some agave notes. The palate is very heavy on Tequila type notes with some sweetness at the end that leads into a sweet, Tequila finish. It's not bad but at 40% it tastes a bit diluted. A few points higher on the proof scale would do it well.

Rozelieures Rare Collection, 5 years old, 40% abv ($60)

This expression is lightly peated, aged in sherry and Cognac casks and finished in Sauternes casks. There are nice peaty/malty notes on the nose. The palate has light peat and very slight wine notes. The finish is slightly peated with some nice peat on the nose. Again, very decent, less watery tasting than the Origine.

Rozelieures  Fumé Collection, 6-8 years old, 40% abv ($75)

This one is aged in first fill Oloroso and Fino sherry casks. The nose opens with big sulfur notes. The sulfur is more muted on the palate which has pleasant dry sherry notes. It gains a touch of sweetness in the finish.

Rozelieures Tourbe Collection, 8 years old 46% abv ($90)

This one is peated to 30 ppm, aged in ex-bourbon casks and finished in new oak from Lorraine. It's malty on the nose with light peat. On the palate, it's got syrupy sweet peat. The peat grows into the finish.

There are all very pleasant and worth trying. They are certainly the most Scotch-like of the French malts I've tried without any of the flowery/perfume notes that I associate with French single malts. They all could benefit from a higher proof point though. I'd love to try them at cask strength.

Thanks to Heavenly Spirits for the samples.

French Whiskey: Hedgehog & Uberach

I haven't been a huge fan of French whiskey in the past (by which I mean whiskey distilled in France, not the great Scotch aged in France by Michel Couvreur). I've tried a few, but they tend to have very floral and fruity notes which I don't prefer in whiskey. 

Recently, K&L brought in two new French whiskeys, one single malt and one single grain, and offered me some samples, so despite my general skepticism, I thought I'd give them a try.

Hedgehog Single Grain Whiskey, 45% abv ($45)

Distilled at Distillerie de Monsieur Balthazar in central France, Hedgehog whiskey is made from a bourbon-style corn/rye/barley mash. It spent a year in new oak and was then transferred to Cognac barrels for at least three years. There are lots of production details on K&L's Blog.

The nose is grainy and a bit raw. The palate is sweet with lots of raw grain notes. It gets sweeter toward the end and into the finish. The mash may be similar to bourbon, but this whiskey doesn't taste at all like bourbon. It's reminiscent of some of the grain-forward American craft whiskeys. It isn't bad, but it's pretty one dimensional. 

Uberach "Assemblage" Single Malt 42.2% ($60)

This is a lightly peated single malt from Distillerie Bertrand in Alsace. This one is "around six years old." It is a vatting of whiskeys aged in new oak and whiskey aged in Banyuls wine casks. Again, there are more production details and photos on the K&L blog.

The nose on this one has a mix of honey, peat and floral notes. The palate hits you like a 1980s Bowmore with perfume notes, floral notes and sugar syrup. I'm not a fan of the floral/perfume flavor profile so this is a no-go for me.

Suffice it to say, neither of these whiskeys has altered my opinion of French whiskey.

Thanks to K&L for the samples.

Cognac's Single Malt: Brenne & Brenne 10

Brenne is the project of whiskey blogger Allison Patel who writes The Whisky Woman blog. A few years ago, she began marketing this French single malt distilled by a Cognac producer on a Cognac style Alembic still. It is aged in new French Limousin oak and finished in Cognac casks.

Brenne has no age statement but averages 7 years old. Patel recently extended the Brenne line with a ten year old expression. Thanks to Brenne for sending me these samples. 

Brenne, 40% abv ($55)

Brenne is a single cask whiskey, but there was no cask number on my sample.

The nose has massive fruit candy notes, like a Jolly Rancher. The palate is a weird fusion of Cognac and malt. It starts with strong fruit notes, almost like a Calvados, then transitions to dry notes with a touch of malt. The finish is lightly malty and, later on, a bit soapy. This is very unique stuff, unlike any single malt I've had before, but it doesn't work that well. The nose and early palate are aggressively fruity, but in a sort of artificial fruit flavor sort of way. The late palate and finish are dry but without much character.  


Brenne 10, 48% abv ($100-$120)

The new Brenne 10 is a marriage of four casks that have been aged in new oak, Cognac casks or a combination thereof.  Josh Feldman has a detailed interview with Patel about the new product on The Coopered Tot.

The nose on the ten year old has very light malty notes. The palate is lightly sweet with some brandy like earthiness which develops into a peppery finish. This one is nice and worth a try. It has more complexity and the flavors come together more cohesively.


Well, between the two of these, I definitely prefer the ten year old. However, I have heard there can be a lot of variation between different casks of the standard Brenne, so some may be better than others.