Delicious Dessert with La Grande Josiane
Here we share a delicious Panna Cotta dessert recipe from our friends at Bordeneuve. Using their fabulous orange armagnac liqueur, La Grande Josiane, this recipe serves 5/6 people.
Panna Cotta à La Grande Josiane
– 500ml double cream
– 50g caster sugar
– 3 leaves of gelatine
– 80ml La Grande Josiane
– 150g dark chocolate
1. Soften the gelatine in cold water
2. Heat the cream and sugar in a pan until just boiling
3. Remove from heat and, whilst whisking continuously, add the drained gelatine, and La Grande Josiane
4. Pour the mixture into ramekins
5. Chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours
6. 20 minutes before serving, melt the chocolate in a bain marie
7. Pour the melted chocolate over the panna cotta and allow to set
8. Decorate with slices of orange and a nicely chilled glass of La Grande Josiane
Calvados has long been the underdog of French spirits. “Even in France, people quite liked it, but the image was dusty and old fashioned,” says Xavier d’Audiffret Pasquier, co-founder of Maison Sassy. “Our mission is to bring calvados back to life. We want to almost promote calvados like a gin, as a very modern spirit.”
Cognac house Maison Bache Gabrielsen has released a new series of cognacs with age statements called Years in Cask. Good to see them following in our footsteps! These cognacs are also vintages so by definition they must be single estate and cannot be blended. Once vintage cognacs have reached their optimum maturity they are transferred to glass bonbonnes where they will mature no further.
COGNAC
We were delighted to welcome Paddy Shave from Brightwells Auction House to our offices a few weeks ago. He brought with him an imperial half gallon (2.27 litres) bottle of Massougnes 1802 Cognac which had passed through our hands almost thirty years ago. We are fortunate to have acquired a number of these large bottles over the years from the owner of the Massougnes Estate, the Comtesse de la Bourdeliere, Marie-Antoinette Pintaurd des Allees – a direct descendant of Henry II and Eleanor of Acquitaine. This particular bottle from 1802 in the Napoleonic era, was originally sold by us to the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland, where is was on display for many years. Still unopened, it was fascinating to see it turn up for sale once more and although the estimated price of £100,000+ was not reached, it still sold for an impressive £52,000. We have sold one or two of these oversized bottles of Massougnes over the years (vintages range from 1800 to 1812) and still have 
The Spirits Business have just announced their top 10 award-winning cognacs and Hermitage appear in the list three times with their 10 Year Old, 1975 and 1972. Spirits Business comments are thus:
Gifts for all the men in your life …
Yet another alcohol related special day occurs this Saturday; it is World Gin Day. According to the website its purpose is:
National Cognac Day on June 4th invites you to enjoy one of the finest alcoholic drinks available. Cognac, which originates from a town of the same name in France, is a type of brandy enjoyed because of its distilled and fine taste. Cognac begins as a white wine that has been produced in one of six designated growing regions. This definition explains the axiom ‘ all cognac is brandy but not all brandy is cognac’. Ironically, the white wine from which cognac starts, is considered by most wine connoisseurs to be entirely undrinkable. But once it has been distilled in an alembic still and aged in oak casks for years, it is absolutely delicious.