Whisky Review 107: Hennessy Richard

What's happening everybody it is time for another session of Malt Reviews This is our Christmas review. Merry Christmas to everybody out there Hope everyone's having an amazing holiday season and drinking something very very special everybody should drink something very special during the holidays and We thought doing a high-end cognac Would be very fitting for Christmas We're actually very big Cognac fans, Armagnac fans, Brandy fans And I don't think we've done an ultra premium cognac yet So for Christmas we decided to bring out none other than Hennessy Richard this is Hennessy's flagship product. This is their high-end bottle There's stuff in here as old as like 200 years old, you know, I would be very surprised if there's a large amount of that in there but it is Fine aged cognac This is some of their top-of-the-line stuff and it comes in a gorgeous decanter and the bottom We have the box, but you know the room here was very fitting to show you the box and everything. So But it comes in a beautiful box, they really make you feel like you're getting a very high-end product Of course, you're paying for that. That's part of the marketing and this bottle ranges and the you know, depending on where you're getting it from anywhere from like Three to five thousand dollars depending on where you're shopping. The price is definitely really vary So call it a call it around four thousand dollar bottle in most places here in the US So an ultra-premium cognac And we've been letting this thing breathe And we just want to share this with you guys as our Christmas review The color Baby, a lot of cognacs have added colorants in it. This one does not my research tells me it does not and As you can see It's just a very deep rich golden gorgeous gorgeous color And it just shows red one. Yeah, exactly. It's going towards red. It's beautiful and Known that something has been aged for so long over a hundred years of Aging there's liquid in here that's been aged for over a hundred years It's just even if it's a tiny bit it just you're tasting liquid history Their reputations on the line with this particular product because they're claiming that it's their finest and best and they put it in something like this And Yeah, we're gonna enjoy this right now that you guys on the nose So perfumey and just so beautifully fragrant it's got it's almost like And it's coming to mind right now because of my place or lighting a lot of candles around the house and a lot of them have these beautiful like sandalwood smells and vanilla smells and And some of them even the Christmas time kind of spices. So it's reminding me of all these scented candles of sandalwood and and Vanilla and tobacco and Christmas spices and it really just took me there right away Because you're getting such beautiful great fragrant stuff just coming right through that That beautiful sandalwood coming through right away that touch of that muskiness The first thing I get is I get these up I get these amazing exotic wild forest mushrooms Which is such earthiness like forest floor and forest mushrooms, but then some of my darby said Imagine like this exotic spice High quality would come like sandalwood and you just soak it you soak it in all these different fruit juices So you have this crazy wood spice element these deep concentrated dark fruit juices Very unique, this is definitely also notice that the first things we said he talked about earthiness. I talked about that sandalwood and spices and all these things and Normally when you when you taste when you know is a cognac kind of a regular High-end cognac. That's not an ultra ultra premium one necessarily You tend to just kind of get that sweetness and that grape comes through right away Where this definitely you could smell that it's a cognac you can smell that it comes from grapes But it's got so much other stuff going on which makes it so unique and different and this is packed with jammy fruits as well Blueberries Coming through for sure and then you know some dark rich red fruits coming through for sure Definitely some of that grape coming through for sure And in H qualities like a touch of that letter leather and in tobacco coming through with the earthiness funky mushrooms Like Mike was mentioning that sandalwood and vanilla and Christmas spices coming through all integrating and it's just so So silky smooth on the nose. It knows is like there's zero alcohol in there. You know, you could give this Almost like you could give it to a child and don't think it's fruit juice and want to drink it No, that sounds bad. But it's it's not yet. It's not that it's rich and intense But you know what? I'm trying to say. You can tell it's an alcoholic beverage. Oh, oh, it's good It's got so much like deep dark dirty like Havana cigar boss This leather this beautiful aged leather like throwing the bananas like flambéed bananas like rum deep dark Rich molasses you run. It's got so much of that in it. But yeah true very dark jammy fruits like light fruits like apricot peach But then like dark like strawberry raspberry blackberry red currant black currant like deep dark jammy Concentrated fruits they've been cooking for a long time. But again that that would Beautiful wood is the main element that ties everything together The wood I don't think I've ever had maybe more exotic wood play in this The definitely getting some Orange oil and I'm talking about orange oil coming from an orange peel you ever made a cocktail And then you you're using the the orange peel if you squeeze it or whatever It leaves like this oily feeling on your hand and you smell it you really get that orange oil coming from the peel and it's Concentrated in this it really concentrated sweet luscious orange oil coming through Everything almost like you can make It's almost like you could take this and make different scented candles with it you know like high-end candles because it's just oozing with Fragrant stuff You know along with some of that earthiness and everything that we talked about. There's a floral element to it, too It's such a good call. No, it's like you keep talking about candles and honestly It's like it's like you walk into like a Bath and Body Works like a candle store like Yankee wax candle store But not in like the bad overly sweet like, you know nasty way just like the best most warm spicy kind of musky Exotic pleasurable candle it's a really good call. It's just like all of all those smells and spices Like a nice rum raisin kind of dessert, yeah All right, let's do it. Cheers. Cheers. Merry Christmas You Something that this does Which will cater to so many different people's palates because On the palate Let's be real there are people that are very wealthy that are not necessarily Fine spirits enthusiasts like we are And they most a lot of you guys are we are enthusiasts we're obsessed with this stuff, right There are people that are gonna get this as a business gift, right? And they're gonna get they're gonna they're rich and they want a fancy piece at their bar So it's gonna be a decoration piece in their mansion And the reason why I bring this up is on the palate. This has a very effortless Feel and just a poof you swallow it and there's just this poof where it's you get it and it kind of like The alcohol part of it. It's just boom disappears. There's no alcohol right yet at the same time It's so seamless and effortless which someone who's not necessarily into fine spirits would be like wow This is so smooth and amazing. It's like it goes down. So perfect. It's such a high-end product. That person will love it. Yeah It's a blast of flavor at the same time. You normally don't get it's normally one or the other right? You're normally not getting blast of flavor and just like Seemingly it's the Seamlessness like in your mouth. I'm not even saying that the right way, but it's I think you guys know what I'm trying to say It's just this such an effortless creaminess zero alcohol coming through yet the sides of my mouth are salivating with flavor And everything is coming through yet at the same time. You can taste that this has been sitting in aging for a while Because you could kind of feel The wood without feeling the wood right like it's definitely there and it's drying elements But it's kind of not there at the same time very hard to explain. I haven't really had much Haven't really had many spirits like it to be honest with you. So it's very unique in that way I hope I'm explaining it the right right way. I'm probably not but whatever I'm doing my best Very unique in that that way definitely getting loads of that that the Christmas spices and the sandalwood Along with the touch of that earthiness Really floral really fruity That orange oil is definitely there And like I said, it fills your mouth with flavor. You could feel the wood play yet It's so seamless and effortless and no alcohol bite whatsoever So I guess what I'm really trying to say is the connoisseur style drinker the enthusiast that likes the cask strength stuff Will really enjoy it and the person who's really not that into it It just has a high-end product on their bar, which a lot of people that own this piece Unfortunately, that's a lot of the people that have it That person will love it too. So it kind of works kind of works all the way around So I don't think this could be You know in the wrong person's hand in that sense Yeah, I think I think you know what you mean? Like I think of it like if you look back to our review on the McAllen rare cast to me That's like a watered-down kind of naked version of McAllen 18 where you have some of those flavors But the mouthfeel and the overall strength and amount of flavors Ends up worrying kind of thin because it just feels watered down At least that's my opinion. Whereas this it goes down really smooth. So if you're not looking for the extra layers of flavor You won't find that strength. You'll say man. This is smooth. There's no alcohol burn. You say in the effortless It's just it's easy to drink perfect But then for us where we're our palates have been trained a little bit We're just bagging follow these different flavors and different take on things. It's got all that strength And all the extra flavors and it caters to us as well. And the biggest thing I get I get just this Perfect amount of oak and imagine you take this oak this beautiful perfect fresh oak and you just soak it for years in like crazy jammy fruits and vanilla pecan Almond praline ice cream and these honey glazed walnuts and everything but it's all been soaked into the wood It's all with regard to the wood and the oak way. That's the biggest thing I get from this. It's so unique Homer sit Oh What an after-dinner drink, huh? Yeah And we'll end the again It is smooth, but especially that second sip more drying It's it's just that perfect amount of dry Accentuates the openness. It doesn't it really lets you know them out, especially the second sip He really lets you know The oak play it that the wood play what the wood has contributed To this because it just would not I Don't know like when we did the latest version of the the Hennessy parody that the current release of that we're just not a big fan of and you can see our review on that if you watch it because It's it's it's a good cognac, but it just tastes like juice It's just it just watered down and it lacks depth and it lacks That feel of it's been sitting in a fine It's been sitting in like a fine cask and really That fine wood that you know is really played along with the spirit and it's just kind of like straight grape juice Older versions of that bottle are quite excellent. So I'm talking about the latest version but this one Is staying strong older version current version? This one's this one's a hit so Again, I don't know if we've done can't remember how many cognac reviews we've done There are other cognacs. We really like that. We'll also show you We haven't done many like Mike said only a handful on this one being on You know one of one of one of our favorites This is excellent This is gonna get a in my book in 93 out of 100. Just just love it that much Yeah, this actually tastes like there's 200 I've had cognacs where they say there's Who knows how much but there's hundred-year-old stuff in it and you can really taste the age with this That'll play the age. This gets a strong 94 for me Right on as you guys could see we picked something. We really really love as our Christmas review I'm sure there's gonna be a few people that watch this that I've tried it. I'd love to see what you guys's opinion on this is and Yeah, let us know what you think click that thumbs up button if you enjoyed this review and we'll see you guys soon again Happy holidays everybody Merry Christmas