St Agnes Distillery XO Grand Reserve Brandy
At 40 years in the cask, you’d expect to see the oak taking over from the underlying grape spirit, and this certainly expresses more woodiness than its younger siblings. However, the integration is still spectacular, with that same creamy softness letting you know not to be afraid of the big, bad age. Rum and raisin ice cream on sticky date pudding with a splash of Grand Marnier comes to mind, and as you would hope from a spirit of this age, you could spend ages just nosing before feeling the need to take a sip. The oak certainly starts to dominate on the palate with a powerful through-line of aromatic tannin. This is an end-of-the-night drink, to be sure, as it would be hard to go backwards from this powerful oak, but again, the texture and candied orange sweetness are there to hold it in check. Superb.
