L'Encantada XO "Aficionados & Friends"
I've been on the brandy crusade for a few years now. To me, brandy feels like bourbon did in 2010-2012. There are some incredible releases but people are hesitant because of price. I.e. I'm sure glad I passed on all of those 15+ year Willett Family Estates back then. Either way, if you love Armagnac or just looking to explore the category, this is a perfect bottle to grab. On the heels of a successful Cognac release Aficionados & Friends are back! The collective is comprised of Bourbon Finder, Bourbon Pursuit, Rare Bird 101, SKU's Recent Eats and The Mash & Drum guided by t8ke of Aficionados Group.
From T8ke: Today we're releasing the first ever, fully custom, L'Encantada XO Blend in the United States. Many of you are familiar with Armagnac, as its on a strong upshoot in popularity for years now. It's a really cool, full circle, experience for me. My first ever selection years back was a 1998 Cassou from L'Encantada as part of the Hail Yak series. If you've ever had armagnac, you no doubt recognize the orange wax of Encantada, who's been at this since before taters have been waxing and glittering bottles.
For this blend, myself and the other 4 co-founders of Afish sifted through a pile of casks and picked the three we best thought would be blending greats. From there, we invited our friends to help blend. The panel ended up large, and I couldn't be more thrilled with the final product. David from RareBird101, Jason from The Mash & Drum, Steve / SKU from Sku's Recent Eats and Serious Brand, Ryan Cecil (Pursuit United Blender) of Bourbon Pursuit and myself and the rest of the Aficionados Group board all blended up over the course of many weeks. What we ended up with was a blend of 1993 Belair (excellent vintage, if I do say so myself), 1986 Cassou and 2008 Pouy. The final blend yielded 500 bottles, so there's plenty to go around. Seelbach's Note: We're down to only 200 bottles
For this blend, myself and the other 4 co-founders of Afish sifted through a pile of casks and picked the three we best thought would be blending greats. From there, we invited our friends to help blend. The panel ended up large, and I couldn't be more thrilled with the final product. David from RareBird101, Jason from The Mash & Drum, Steve / SKU from Sku's Recent Eats and Serious Brand, Ryan Cecil (Pursuit United Blender) of Bourbon Pursuit and myself and the rest of the Aficionados Group board all blended up over the course of many weeks. What we ended up with was a blend of 1993 Belair (excellent vintage, if I do say so myself), 1986 Cassou and 2008 Pouy. The final blend yielded 500 bottles, so there's plenty to go around. Seelbach's Note: We're down to only 200 bottles
