Old Master Spirits 1972 Armagnac Review!

Yes, they've done it again! This new release is almost a decade older, with a negligible price difference. Although it's not quite that simple this time. Read on!

Old Master Spirits' previous release was their first Armagnac bottling, a 1982 vintage Bas Armagnac. Now just over a month later they've followed it up with a 1972 vintage Bas Armagnac, albeit with one crucial point of difference. This forthcoming release was distilled in 1972 and bottled in 2022, but the age statement is 39-years, not 49-years. And that's not a mathematical error, Deni and David have done this on purpose! This single cask armagnac was transferred from a French oak cask to a glass "dame-jeanne" (a.k.a. a demijohn - pictured below in its wicker basket) just over a decade prior to being bottled. This is a very common practice in brandy production, where unlike in Scotch whisky this glass storage period is legally considered to be part of the maturation time and is almost always included in a cognac or armagnac's age statement. The ideas behind transferring the spirit from a cask or casks to these large inert glass vessels are obviously to stop any further wood influence, but also to essentially stop evaporation due to the volume of liquid and/or the ABV dropping during maturation. Given a decade in glass that storage period will have still made a difference to this spirit, primarily with the amount of oxygen present in the vessel. It's hard to tell from the below image, but these dame-jeannes are rarely more than half-full, and are closed with a regular cork & piece of hessian, so while they don't breathe like a wooden cask they're not completely sealed. In the interests of transparency the team at Old Master Spirits have decided not to include this glass storage period in their age statement with this release, just like it wouldn't be included in a Scotch whisky. So the 39-year age statement here refers to the length of time that this armagnac spent in it's single French oak cask, despite it being bottled roughly a decade later. Obviously a 49-year age statement would've made this bottling easier to sell, and they also could've chosen to remove the age statement altogether and just printed a vintage & year of bottling on the label for the same effect. But they've chosen to go with transparency, just as you'd expect from this small, quality-driven operation.

I've covered the basics of armagnac and it's production in the recent review of Old Master's previous release (see here), and that of it's cousin cognac back in April (see here). So I won't repeat that in this review, suffice to say that this latest bottling from Old Master is also from the Bas Armagnac AOC, the largest and most common region in armagnac production, and is again bottled at natural cask strength, non-chill filtered, and without any added colouring, sugar, or boise (wood flavouring), all of which are permitted in armagnac production. So this armagnac has been bottled 'au naturel', just the way it should be! This armagnac is also from the same producer as the previous release, Chateau Bordeneuve a.k.a. Baron de Sigognac, named after their most prolific cellar master. The Chateau is roughly halfway between Bordeaux and Toulouse in the south-west of France, with every step in production carried out on site from harvesting the grapes through to distillation, maturation and bottling. The grape varieties in this latest release are different to the previous bottling, with this one being made from Baco and Ugni Blanc grapes. Distillation was again a single run through this family owned armagnac house's traditional armagnac still, with it's short column and tightly-packed worm tub condenser, far removed from a modern continuous / coffey / column still.

This 1972 vintage single cask Bas Armagnac has been bottled un-diluted at a natural strength of exactly 46% ABV, with a tiny yield of 151 x 500ml bottles, following 39-years of maturation in French oak and 10-years of storage in glass. With such a low yield we can see why Chateau Bordeneuve chose to transfer this precious liquid into glass - otherwise it might've evaporated completely! With the age of this spirit and such a low number of bottles you'd be forgiven if you expected the pricing to be on the expensive side. But that's not how Old Master Spirits operates - this 1972 vintage single cask armagnac is going to retail at just $299 AUD. It's safe to say that a single malt whisky of this age could sell for ten-times that amount, so this is a serious bargain for such a rarity. Much like the last armagnac release, I would not expect it to last long at all. Sign up to Old Master's mailing list here , and keep an eye on your inbox - this armagnac will be released on the 20th of October. It'll also make for an interesting comparison with the 1982 bottling - in fact, since I'm so generous, I'm going to do just that after reviewing this latest edition on its own! Why not?

Colour: Dark bronze. 

Nose: Sweet, rich & floral. Quite fresh & lively for such an old spirit! Creamy Russian caramel fudge (made with golden syrup & condensed milk, and actually a British invention rather than Russian!), raisins & dried currants, touch of dried apricot, and a drop of orange oil. Dried leafy herbs, a touch of boot polish, and warm oak.

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Creamy, rich & very soft. No heat whatsoever. 

Taste: Juicy oak, floral spirit again with more raisins, dried currants and creamy Russian caramel fudge (again, that's British and not Russian!). More dried leafy herbs, and a surprising drop of rich vanilla bean ice cream in the background. 

Finish: Medium length. Dried apricots & currants, and a touch of that orange oil again. Some treacle, and warm baking spices. Something a little rum-like in the background too, i.e. an aged Caribbean rum. 

Score: 4 out of 5, but closer to a 4.5 (again, bearing in mind my limited armagnac experience).  

Notes: Another delicious bottling from Deni & David! Which shouldn't come as a surprise. What does come as a surprise though is how light on its feet this armagnac is for something that has spent nearly four decades in French oak and then a decade in glass. I wouldn't quite call it a delicate spirit, but it's certainly no heavy wood monster. Like almost any aged spirit only the best casks would be allowed to age for this long, while keeping an eye on the levels of wood influence and tannins, and also the evaporation. Being able to store your spirit in inert glass vessels is certainly a big advantage there, and kudos again to Deni & David for choosing to leave that extra decade out of the age statement with this bottling. Very delicious stuff this, no doubt helped by being presented properly and at a very reasonable price. 

In comparison to the previous O.M.S. armagnac bottling, the 1982 vintage, this older sibling is lighter, sweeter & more floral, less wood-driven and more complex. It's important to remember that both spent the same amount of time maturing in oak, although the subsequent 10-years in glass could've helped this 1972 vintage in that regard. In all honesty, between the two I would go for the 1972 vintage, disregarding any other factors. But there's no denying that $299 AUD is a seriously good deal for any spirit of this age, distilled nearly half a century ago, let alone when it's a single cask armagnac of this quality. Highly recommended for any brandy fan!

Thanks once again to Deni from Old Master Spirits for the sample for this review, and for bringing this delicious armagnac to Australia at such a reasonable price. I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Cheers!