E&J VSOP Brandy

I am new to drinking Brandy and am on a budget, so buy affordable brands. I recently tried Paul Mason and Christian Brothers. I thought these two were very close in flavor. I had rest of PM before opening up CB and trying a sip, as I wanted to compare. Of these two, I thought Paul Mason was better. I started watching reviews, reading reviews also. Paul Mason (French) got consistently good reviews. I read reviews of E&J VSOP, which were not good, most pretty poor. But I decided to try it anyway, to judge for myself. I would have to agree, it is not good, very artificial flavor, almost a sickening strong flavor. I do have Horchata cinnamon rice milk, so will add to the this brandy. I will not buy E&J VSOP again. I will go back to buying Paul Mason, that is my favorite.

So story goes I bought a bottle of this back in 2007 on the suggestion of “bring some brandy in a flask when you go skiing” so I picked up a cheap bottle of brandy. This bottle has sat up at our mountain home since then collecting dust and has been slowly getting lower and lower as we have friends come and go at our home. Fast forward 11 years later and I’ve found I enjoy whiskey so I thought I’d give it another go. With that being said, I think this bottle got smoother and flattened out over the last 11 years. I’d probably not buy this now that I’m into whiskeys and tequilas but I’m glad I revisited this bottle and I won’t let it go to waste.

Was staying in San Diego for a week, stopped off at the liquor store and for under 12 bucks I figured go for it. Just in case I got a few 20 oz of dt Pepsi to mix it. Upon first sip I couldnt believe this was brandy, it tasted like an unrefined bottle of bottom shelf whiskey. After a few more sips I couldn't hack it, I had to chase it with the dt Pepsi. Its not smooth, tastes bad, fortunately this one has a quick finish as I couldn't bare anymore. If you're looking for deep, complex flavors, wrong house, this one's about as deep as a puddle. Glad it was only 12 bucks.

The nose is incredible for a budget option here. On the nose you will find a seductive and tantalizing array of notes from butterscotch, medium caramel, raisin, and apple. Very easy to find a caramel apple in the nose. A touch of banana and vanilla round out the experience. On the taste a sweet, but not cloying taste greets your palate with strong caramel apple, raisin and vanilla notes. There is a bit of youth characteristics present with a harsh alcohol note mid tongue but is forgivable with the moderately long finish ending on Carmel covered raisins.

Nose - cherry, vanilla, sweet cream, powdered sugar, toffee, light oak, high ethanol burn. Taste - cherry syrup, pineapple, apple, pear, caramel, vanilla, sweet cream, sweet oak, powdered sugar, cinnamon, baking spice, high ethanol burn, finishing fairly quickly with syrupy sweetness and barrel spice flavors with a significant amount of heat. This is a step up from their VS offering, but not quite into sipper territory. I think it would make for a good cola mixer.

Sweet artifical ‘fruit’, caramel, milk chocolate This all sounds good on paper but the actual taste is disappointing. Might be a good mixer but the artificial taste makes me uncertain to use. Would not buy if it was the only brandy available. The candy-like artificial tase just isn’t my thing although I’m sure there are others that will disagree with this assessment.