Barrel aged Eau de Vie!
The unaged eau de vie champions have been crowned. Perfect time for a bonus 10th episode to conclude my fruity summer distraction!
A quick review of 8 barrel-aged Eau-de-Vie before my video overview of the series champions and subsequent return to rum reviewing.
Some bloody exciting bottles on test here... 4 aged plum expressions, a chestnut barrel aged apple distillate, aged cashew apple brandy from Ghana, aged banana Eau-de-Vie, and a miscellaneous bottle of aged Palinka home brew from Hungary!
One big reservation - I've fallen in love with the fresh, vibrant flavours of unoaked, clear, fruit distillates. So I'm slightly apprehensive about whether time in a cask and the influence of wood will kill the vibrance of these spirits without providing enough in return. These are a very different category and I'll approach them with an open mind.
If this article has caught your eye and you'd like a little background on my summer excursion into the world of fruit distillates .. Here's my introduction to this crazy summer series.
So, onto the tasty bit. 8 drams, 20ml of each, poured and left (covered) to open up for 30 mins. Nosed first, then tasted, approached in two tranches. [Both halves taking place on the same day].
The 4 barrel-aged plum distillates.
And the rest (pear, cashew apple, apple, banana)
And (of course) plenty of cross-tastings / revisits, to validate my scores and thoughts.
Assisted today by a playlist of Portuguese music that Mrs SecretRumBar hopes will help her learn the language with less effort - haha! It's good though :-)
Plum - left to right ... Mette, Gölles, Jelínek, Capovilla
Ageing - 3 years in an ex-pinot noir barrel, followed by 4-5 years resting in steel.
French plums, pressed and wild fermented, with no added sugar or yeast. Double distilled before ageing; initially in an ex-pinot noir barrel for 3 years, and then 4 to 5 years in steel to allow the flavours to blend and soften. No shortcuts here!
A thick unctuous distillate - great legs running down a swirled glass.
Nose: A big rich nose. Jammy. Plums, dates and a deep red wine influence. Boozy fruit cake.
Pinch of menthol. Could be too rich...
Mouth: Plummy. With a lightly astringent winey mid-taste and a decent long finish.
Impressive berry, cherry and plum flavours. The wine cask has worked although it's lost a bit of brightness. Swapping some bright unaged fruit eau de vie notes for a caramel-esque natural fruit sweetness. Enjoyable & unique, but not going to be for everyone. It needs a bit more acidity or bitterness to focus the massive, flabby, rich fruits. [84pts]
Aging - 8 years
Another aged plum distillate. This appears to have been made in 2010 (from a small print on the label of the sample bottle I bought).
This Austrian distiller has a fairly informative website, telling us that the spirit took 12kg of plum per litre to produce.
I was a little disappointed with Gölles' unaged plum*. Hopefully, this is on another level.
Nose: Less rich, and less sweet fruit forward nose when compared to the Metté. Brandy. Prunes. Earthy. Slightly oxidised dry white wine. Touch of bitterness.
Mouth: Again, not as intensely fruity as the Metté, but maybe that's a good thing. A welcome addition of balancing bitterness that keeps a nice tight focus and makes this very drinkable. Not super complex but enjoyable and well-balanced.
Another 15 mins and this keeps improving. A tasty drop that leaves you wanting more. And a huge step up from the unaged (*although I still sense that I had a bad sample on that one) [86pts]
R. Jelínek Slivovice, Czech Republic, 45%, £48 (700ml)
Ageing - 3 years in oak
I reviewed R. Jelínek's unaged plum eau de vie earlier in the series (here)
Nose: Punchy alcohol. Some dry bitter fruit. Not particularly complex and imperfect alcohol integration
Mouth: Plum booze! Decent length. Bit sharp. And a bit aggressive. Strong-tasting plum distillate with the rounded tannin and balance of oak ageing.
The second sip presents strong pith & skin-like bitterness. And a few wisps of smoke.
Weirdly, it's exactly what I expect aged plum Eau de vie to taste like, and it's not bad, yet my least favourite of the 4 plum distillates! [83+pts]
Ageing - 6 to 8 years in oak barrels
603 bottles a blend of 3 barrels aged for 6, 7 & 8 years respectively.
Capovilla scored outstandingly well across the series. Most notably with his Quince, Pear, Peach, Sour Cherry, Apricot, and Banana distillates.
Nose: Rich, deep, buttery fruit. Serious heft of alcohol but well integrated. A lot going on in here. So much flavour... A pinch of salt. A waft of mint. And layers of gluey, chewy, stone fruit
Mouth: A step up again from the nose! Very special juice. Super intense dried and fresh stone fruit with a gentle hint of smoke and cigar boxes. Lovely salinity. A comforting drink. Maintains plenty of bright zippy fruit, yet adds extra dimensions, depth and complexity. And a gorgeous long finish. A triumph. [89pts]
Other - left to right .... homebrew palinka, Mim cashew apple, Capreolus apple, Vinha Alta banana
Homemade aged Palinka, Romania, ??%, £n/a
Aging - No idea :-)
I was gifted this sample about 4 years ago by a friend down at my allotment. I've been saving it all this time for this side-by-side of aged eau de vie!
It was made by a member of her family in Romania and she couldn't tell me much more. From what I understand it's common for locals to distil their own Palinka and many families have a cask aging in the basement. I have low expectations from this amateur home brew but, as always, I will approach with excitement and an open mind!
Nose: Punchy! Not at all what I expected. Cane juice notes! And funky. Not much pear but it's delicious and a huge surprise. I was expecting dull and bad tasting and couldn't be further away - it's both interesting and tasty. I hope the palate delivers.
Mouth: A layer of fruit leads quickly onto briney salty funk. So bold! It's cracking juice. A lovely bit of smoke on the finish. Halfway between Clairin and Paranubes. Even a touch of mezcal. Serious flavours and a lot of poke - I suspect this is high 50's in abv. Not an easy sipper by any means but incredibly interesting and packed with flavour. What an unexpected treat. [86pts]
Aging - 6 to 7 years in oak
I don't think you get much more obscure than this. Cask-aged cashew fruit spirit from Ghana!
When cashews grow, they are attached to an often discarded fruit - the cashew apple. As far as I can tell Mim is the largest cashew farmer in Ghana with 760 hectares of organic cashew trees.
With a keen eye for diversity and innovation, Mim have been pressing, fermenting and distilling the cashew apple to produce a distillate. In this case, it has been laid down to age in oak barrels. Kwame is a limited release consisting of a blend of 16 of these barrels. They also grow sugarcane .... mmm rum :-)
Nose: Lots of rum notes! I've never seen a cashew apple let alone tasted one so I had no idea what to expect.
It's lovely. A tonne of squishy fruit on the nose reminds me of Beenleigh rum. Boozy. And chocolatey. Very inviting.
Mouth: Yum yum. Spicy. Ginger. Cayenne pepper. Coffee. Chocolate-covered pear. Stewed tea. And similar flavours to a custard apple. Although this doesn't come close to the magnificent Vinha Alta custard apple eau de vie that won the final round in the unaged eau de vie series.
A couple sips in and I'm finding it very rich - not sure I'd want much but it's interesting quality stuff. [84-pts]
Ageing - 6-8mths in new chestnut barrel, then 4 years in neutral vessels
A limited release of just 312 half-sized bottles
Barney distilled this apple eau de vie with the specific intention of ageing it in a single, new, chestnut barrel. After a little over half a year it was moved to a neutral vessel and given 4 extra years to allow the tannins to soften.
The subsequent vintage to this (2019) was the latest vintage Barney has made of his Chestnut Barrel aged apple eau de vie, I suspect that will be released later this year. Hopefully, we'll see another batch getting laid down soon. In the meantime I understand some exciting pommeau* is aging at Capreolus - a very cool collaboration with Little Pomona.
*Little Pomona cider fortified by another batch of their cider distilled by Capreolus. Sounds a must-try to me!
I reviewed Capreolus' fascinating unaged 1000 trees apple eau de vie earlier in the series (here)
Nose: Glorious. A huge nose. The chestnut works! Apple is there in abundance, complemented throughout by spicy barrel influence. The only other chestnut barrel-aged spirit I've tried was the outstanding J Gow 2 yr TBRC rum - which I enjoyed (review here). I'm picking up (unsurprising) several similarities. Lovely baked spices that work perfectly with the apple.
Mouth: Amazing.. nutmeg, cardamom, lime leaves, lime zest. The beautiful apple flavours have only been improved by barrel time.
A good splash of cider vinegar keeps everything in focus. One of the few that I prefer to the unaged. Delightful. [89pts]
Ageing - 12 months in a charred virgin Portuguese oak cask
Another unique bottle. Surely this is the world's only barrel-aged banana eau de vie??
I reviewed Vinha Alta's outstanding unaged banana eau de vie earlier in the series (here), and have already made a note to pour a dram on the unaged to compare them side-by-side later today.
Nose: Yum yum.). Flambeed caramel banana with a spicy vanilla sauce. If you like perfectly ripe bananas crushed on toast, you'll love this.
Mouth: Outstanding. A huge mouthful. Globs of sticky banana. Naturally sweet and not a bit cloying.
Intense banana! You know all about the 20+ kgs of fruit squeezed into each litre.
Side by side with the unaged - both excellent. Both have a place and time. The rich spicy vanilla caramel banana of the aged. Or the brighter fresh banana of the unaged.
I suspect most will prefer the aged. By a hair, I prefer the unaged. [88pts]
Conclusions - A fascinating and delicious tasting today with a few standout gems. Overall I now know that I prefer my eau de vie unaged. However, a joint win for the two exceptions to this general takeaway - the Capreolus Chestnut Barrel Aged Eau De Vie and the Capovilla Prunus Aurum, both a step up from their unaged counterparts. Outstanding spirits with a Secret Rum Bar seal of approval!
A bronze medal for the unique and delicious Vinha Alta Aged Banana rounds out the top three. And also draws a close to my summer fruity madness. See you all back in the land of rum.
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