Camut 6 year old, 40% abv ($65)
The nose has massive, bold apple notes. The palate is light with some acidic apple notes and trails off with apples and a touch of oak. It's a bit watery on the palate. Overall, I thought this one was a bit disappointing; it's just not that full-flavored.
Camut Privilege, 18 year old, 40% abv ($150) All the Camut I've had have big, round, beautiful fruity noses with a huge apple punch, and this one is no exception. On the palate it starts with big apple then develops some herbal/mint notes, trailing off with some oak and a touch of pepper. The finish is spiced apples. This is a great, delicious, drinkable brandy that has a great transition from nose to finish and comes together really well.
What a difference a dozen years makes. There's a real transition in this brandy from the one-note, somewhat watery six year old to the full-flavored and delicious 18 year old. Unfortunately, there's also a big price difference.
3 comments:
I think you might have liked the 6 yo even less than I did. The 18 yo does sound good--pity about the price.
Does the ABV of Calvados typically drop over the course of maturation like scotch whisky? If so, I wonder how much of the improvement is just due to the 18-year-old taking much less water than the 6-year-old to get down to 40%.
- Ol' Jas
I believe it does drop Ol' Jas and that's a good point that the 18 year old probably required less water to drop down to 80 proof.
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