Jollité VSOP Armagnac

Rating: 7/23 I remember hating this because it was horribly tannic with a big formaldehyde presence. It was truly a miserable experience. I'm honestly not sure why I'm giving it another shot. OK, so actually, I was so confused by the last bottle I tried that I decided to get another one to give this another chance. DON'T MAKE MY MISTAKE. This is some of the worst swill I have ever encountered and it's marked at $40. N: Fruits ranging from mild and floral to dark and rich with some woody spices. Dark cherry, orange peel, raisin, star anise, clove, ginger, cinnamon. Oh yeah, but there's also this big meaty sulfur hit and something metallic. I like how rich the fruits are, but the sulfur goes beyond funky and rancio, well into poor distillate territory. P: Wow, this is nothing like the palate I recall! There must be some serious batch variation/quality control issues going on here. Yeah, there are plenty of tannins and there's some formaldehyde, but there's also a ton of sulfur and rancio! I'm honestly not sure which version is worse. The fruits are rich with a sweet dark, dried quality. There are some nice woody spices in here, suggesting a decent degree of age in barrels of reasonable quality. It's rich enough that the 40% ABV isn't a problem and it doesn't taste like a bunch of sugar was just tossed in either. The metallic flavor gradually comes out though. That alcohol is there too. Drinking it actually starts to give me a headache (which is a quality that I recall from last time) and it burns my mouth more than I'd normally expect for 40% ABV. If it weren't for the high amount of sulfur and that metallic flavor, I could get past the other problems and enjoy this well enough I think. F: There's more metal and sulfur on the finish. The rich fruits and nice spices drop out considerably, but the floral elements stick around. This is definitely the worst part of this Armagnac. I can appreciate some rancio on this finish, but that just is not what this is. This isn't a funky complexity: it's a serious flaw. So I think there is some serious batch variation going on here because this is nothing like what I had before. It does continue the tradition of being something that one could fairly characterize as poison though. Unlike my last bottle, which was incredibly tannic, this one is somewhat smoother, but it's obvious that it is incredibly young. There is a miserable amount of sulfur here and a big metallic taste, along with a gross artificial caramel flavor. It's disgusting. In desperation, I tried throwing a bunch of wood chips in - not because I thought it would make this Armagnac good, but because I thought it might clear up some of the sulfur - and giving it a few days. While that never produces a good product since it eats away the complexity and adds a flat flavor in its place, it does make a dramatic improvement here and since there is a lot going on to begin with, the outcome actually moves mostly in the right direction. The wood chips did help to remove a fair amount of the sulfur and some of the metal, but there was still enough left that I couldn't figure out what to do with all of this Armagnac. I tried blending with it in extremely small quantities (

I hated this at first. It actually caused me to feel physically ill after burning my throat like napalm. Now, though, I appreciate the strong spiciness (lots of cloves and ginger), hints of vanilla, faint nuttiness, and underlying oil. There is some sweetness, but not too much and just a tad of oiliness. I'd like some more richness or something here, but the flavor is somewhat interesting overall and I enjoy it much more than I initially thought possible. The hibt of salty, smoky bacon toward the finish is interesting and reminds me of Talisker, though I'm not sure whether I like that touch. There is a bit of sweet cherry flavor that I find off-putting at times. Aside from that, the flavor is woody and spicy with the overall impression being harsh. If you take a big enough swig, you can get some rich chocolate flavor going on that combats the cherry, so that redeems this drink a bit. All told this is a solid drink, but not anything amazing. It would score a point higher if it were not so harsh. Also, if it's flavors were more on point, like those of the Delord XO. It lacks the sickly cherry of Remy Martin 1738, though its woody tannin flavor enters a similar battle. I'd say that the Jollite is slightly superior. This drink would benefit from some more variety to its flavors.

Nose - apple, cranberry, cherry, vanilla, yeasty breadiness, wisp of smoke, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - apple, vanilla cream, cherry, clove, allspice, caramel, moderate to high alcohol bite, finishing quick, young, and bright with fading caramel, sour fruit, and yeast flavors. There’s not much going on here. The flavors are nice, but muddled and not fully developed. The sour and bready notes don’t integrate well with the larger flavor profile. Overall, it drinks a bit too young for my liking. Many thanks to @ContemplativeFox for providing the sample.

Amazingly smooth. I was shocked at how good this tastes. It ranks up there with some of the $100+ Brandeis I've tasted.

This is a new 1 for me, has some very nice undertones, tasty 😉

Chocolate notes as though a hershey is Melting in your MOUTH