Did you know they make apple brandy in the UK? In fact, since 2011, there has been an AOC for Somerset Cider Brandy, even though there only appears to be one producer. The Somerset Cider Brandy Company bottles a wide range of expressions of their apple brandy, including 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 year old expressions which are aged in a variety of oak casks. Today, I will try the 20 year old.
Somerset 20 Year Old Cider Brandy, Bottled 1/10/2015, 42% abv ($55 for 500ml)
This has a really beautiful nose with bold apple and oak notes. The palate is sweet and oaky. There's not much apple character on the palate; its tastes more like a Cognac or even a rum. It's quite sweet, making me wonder if there is added sugar. The finish is oaky, a bit bitter and it has a light sulfur like note, which may indicate some sherry cask aging.
This brandy reminds me of a standard Cognac. It's certainly sippable but not particularly interesting.
Somerset brandies are not currently available in the U.S.
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