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Valentine’s Gifts

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Celebrate love this Valentine’s Day with Valentine’s gifts that capture the essence of romance.

Valentine's Gifts

This Valentine’s Day, go beyond the ordinary and celebrate the season of love with exquisite spirits from Brandyclassics, where each bottle is a testament to sophistication and indulgence. Whether you’re surprising him or delighting her, our curated selection promises a memorable journey of taste and refinement.

For him, consider the Hermitage 10 Year Old Grande Champagne Cognac – a pinnacle of luxury blending sophistication and indulgence. Alternatively, opt for the Hermitage 20 Year Old Grande Champagne Cognac, boasting a rich and complex flavour profile that unfolds with every sip. These premium cognacs are not just drinks; they’re experiences, encapsulating the essence of timeless romance.

Ladies, indulge in our organic selection of Mosgaard gins, where each bottle is a celebration of botanical wonders meticulously crafted for a sensory adventure. The infusion of premium ingredients creates a symphony of flavours, making each gin a unique and delightful expression of craftsmanship. If you prefer a sweeter note, explore the Nusbaumer Crème de Framboise des Bois – a luscious raspberry liqueur crafted with precision. Its velvety texture and authentic berry flavour make it the perfect choice for a romantic evening.

Order your Valentine’s Gifts now, and with each bottle, raise a toast to the enduring power of love. Our carefully curated selection reflects not just the artistry of fine spirits but also the commitment to creating moments that linger in the heart.

Hermitage 2005 Grande Champagne Cognac – A Vintage Marvel

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Hermitage 2005 Grande Champagne Cognac stands as a pinnacle of sophistication, with a commitment to crafting only the finest spirits. The heart of our collection lies in the Grande Champagne region, where the slow ageing process imparts a unique richness. 

Guided by our brand policy, all Hermitage Cognacs age for a minimum of ten years, a testament to our unwavering dedication to excellence.

The meticulous aging process defines the Hermitage 2005 as it matures in 350 litre casks, spending six to eight months in new casks, and gracefully ageing further in seasoned Limousin casks. The medium damp cellars, with their natural floors, contribute to the refined character of this limited edition cognac, available in only a few bottles.

2005 Grande Champagne Cognac

The Aroma and Flavour:

The Hermitage 2005 is a sensory delight. Aromas include a blend of chocolatey mocha, fragrant walnuts, and a subtle vanilla undertone. The flavours unfold with toffee, hazelnut, roasted walnut, and spices such as mace, revealing a vibrant zest of tangerine peel on the tail.

From Vineyard to Glass:

Creating the Hermitage 2005 involved a meticulous blend of Ugni Blanc and Folle Blanche grapes, capturing the signature essence of the Grande Champagne terroir. The flatter soil, coupled with Coniaçian chalk, imparts a unique character. Consistent, moderate weather ensures optimal grape ripening.

Distinctive Distillation:

The Hermitage 2005 would have been distilled on a small still with a straight-sided head minimising rectification and preserving maximum wine flavours. A fairly heavy lees enriches the cognac, creating a symphony of delicate notes.

Sip and Savour:

In every sip of Hermitage 2005 Grande Champagne Cognac, one embarks on an exclusive journey through time, terroir, and expert craftsmanship. This limited edition masterpiece can be enjoyed on its own, allowing the complexity of flavours to unfold, or paired with a Côte de boeuf, glazed carrots, and Café de Paris Butter sauce.

Indulge in the extraordinary; savour the sophistication that defines Hermitage Cognacs.

Hot Cocktails

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This current cold weather is perfect for trying some of our new, Hot Cocktails. All based on summer varieties they introduce some new, warming ideas to keep away the winter chills.

Hot Toddy

Based on the traditional Hot Toddy, often used to relieve cold and flu symptoms, this popular night cap is fruity and spicy.

Ingredients

  • 50ml Mosgaard Single Malt Whisky
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 25ml lemon juice
  • 1 cup hot water
  • 1 lemon wedge
  • 1 cinnamon stick

Method: Combine boiled water, whisky, honey, lemon juice, and water in a mug. Garnish with a lemon wedge and cinnamon stick.

Hackney Homebrew

A little stronger and sharper but a lovely warm sipper.

Ingredients

  • 40ml Mosgaard Danish Gin
  • 20ml Montanaro Rosso Di Torino Vermouth
  • 10ml sugar syrup
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 2 star anise
  • Fresh nutmeg
  • Orange zest, to garnish

Method: Combine gin, vermouth and sugar syrup in a pan. Simmer on a low heat. Break the cinnamon and add with 20 grates of fresh nutmeg and the star anise. Pour into a glass and grate over orange zest.

Hot Old Fashioned Gin

Changing the whisky for gin, and serving it warm, creates a perfect spin on the beloved drink, Old Fashioned.

Ingredients

  • 50ml Mosgaard Danish Gin
  • 10ml sugar syrup
  • 3 dashes orange bitters
  • 50ml boiling water
  • Orange twist, to garnish

Method: Gently heat gin, syrup and bitters in a pan and add the boiling water. Serve garnished with an orange twist.

Delord 2006 Bas Armagnac Arrives

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As always at this time of year we bring to our shelves a vintage Delord 2006 Bas Armagnac that was harvested 18 years ago. It is the youngest vintage that we stock, and the perfect gift for those turning 18 this year.  Vintage spirits, such as cognac, armagnac and calvados, will always increase in value over time as only a limited number of bottles were ever produced. Once they have been drunk, there will be no more. The armagnac will not deteriorate once put into glass as the seal will keep it the same as the day it was bottled (although we do recommend resealing bottles every 20 years). The reducing supply, however, means that the value of vintage brandies is increasing all the time and being recognised as a shrewd investment.

Giving vintage armagnac as an 18th Birthday present gives the recipient choices. Either to keep, drink and enjoy or, keep as an investment for years down the line when 2006 armagnacs are far more difficult to obtain. So if you know someone who was born in the year that Italy won the FIFA World Cup and ‘Borat’ was released, this Delord 2006 Bas Armagnac could be the gift for them.

HNY We’re Bringing You Cheer With Our Bin Ends Sale

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Bin Ends Sale

Our office reopened on the 2nd of January and as we move into another year in the twenty first century (can you believe it’s nearly 25 years since the start of the new millennium!?) we thought we would bring you some January cheer with our Bin Ends Sale.

Lots of fabulous products at half price, the alcohol is all in perfect condition but some have damaged labels, tops or bottles and others are just end of line.

The Sale is listed on the Home page, grab a bargain whilst you can as there are only limited stocks available.

And talking of bargains, out latest Hermitage Vintage 2004 Cognac is our Introductory offer this month.  Perfect if you are looking for 20th birthday or anniversary gifts in 2024.

The Times Features Hermitage Cafe 20 Cognac

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coffee cognac

Last weekend in The Times luxury supplement, Luxx, Jane MacQuitty wrote about the best bottles to give as ‘gluggable gifts’. Obviously we were delighted to see our extremely popular Hermitage Cafe 20 Cognac from Grande Champagne featured. Jane described it as ‘Magnificent mocha, vanilla, wood-smoke and marzipan-licked top-drawer cognac from a great producer’.

A Cognac Masters 2020 Gold Medal Winner, the Cafe 20 has also been described by TV presenter and award-winning wine expert Olly Smith as “this is as good as it gets and it’s mind-blowing with after-dinner coffee”.

Perfect to enjoy with friends at Christmas; you can read more about it here. 

Christmas Luxury Gift Guide

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December is well underway so its time to turn our attention to present shopping. But, what do you buy for the person who has everything? Well, we’ve put together a list of our favourite, luxury drinks that will go down a storm this Christmas. Not only do they taste fantastic, some of the packaging is exquisite and will grace any sideboard with aplomb.

The three, classic French brandies of cognac, armagnac and calvados really come into their own at this time of year as their typical flavours of roasted nuts, spices and dried fruits complement the Christmas fayre brilliantly.

We have selected 5 of our favourites to feature here but go and explore our website, there are so many Christmas Luxury Gifts from which to choose.

Christmas Luxury Gift Guide

Hermitage 50 Year Old Grande Champagne Cognac

Winner of The IWSC Cognac Trophy 2021, this masterpiece is still in cask. The Judges described it as “Like opening an old leather-bound book or antique oak armoire. Figgy pudding and rich dark chocolate; wonderful rich spices and the bitterness of orange zest come through on the palate. Spicy but gentle and supremely dry.” RRP £531.60

Christmas Luxury Gift Guide

Toutain Reserve Odile 60 Year Old Calvados

This exclusive bottling pays tribute to Odile Toutain who, 60 years ago, took over Domaine de la Couterie. Distilled in 1959, it was carefully aged for 60 years in the family cellars before a limited edition of only 234 bottles was released. Presented in a beautiful carafe, sealed in a wooden housing, this is a truly rare gift. RRP £1164.60

Christmas Luxury Gift Guide

Darbeau 1943 Bas Armagnac

Steeped in history, this 1943 Bas Armagnac was distilled during the height of World War II when many wonderful brandies were requisitioned by the occupying forces. Few survived but this wonderful example of a top cru armagnac s one of the few that remain. Distilled 70 years ago, it epitomises history in a bottle. RRP £1908.00

Christmas Luxury Gift Guide

Hermitage 1923 Grande Champagne Cognac

Imagine life a century ago, that is when this stunning cognac was made. Tasting cognac from that era is a extra special treat, especially when, according to Olly Smith, Wine & Spirits Expert, it “has a gorgeous flavour, somewhere between a sultana and a sun-dried apricot with the spirit framing the layers with impeccable integration.” RRP £2086.40

Christmas Luxury Gift Guide

Hermitage Cognac Marie Louise Crystal Decanter

The icing on our Luxury Christmas Gift Guide cake! A masterpiece of smoothness, aged for 70 years in oak barrels, it is described by Victoria Moore of the Saturday Telegraph as “Likely to be one of the finest cognacs you have tasted.” This litre of amazing cognac is all wrapped up in a completely hand-blown and hand-cut, full-lead luxury English crystal decanter. What more could you ask for? RRP £2220.00

Christmas Cocktails

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This Christmas we are looking forward to drinking some very popular cocktails at home. So, to make things easy, we are offering Cocktail Kits at discounted prices – they will be on sale throughout December on our home page.

The Kits comprise all you need to make these delicious cocktails in the comfort of your own home throughout the festive season:

Negroni

To make the perfect classic Negroni cocktail, use equal parts gin, vermouth and bitters poured over ice, stirred and garnished with orange peel.

The Negroni Kit includes:

Mosgaard Organic Dry Gin

Montanaro Vermouth Rosso Di Torino

Montanaro Bitter Naturale

Tangerine Negroni

Tangerine Negroni

All you need to make delicious Tangerine Negroni cocktails this Christmas is replace the Dry Gin with:

Mosgaard Organic Tangerine Gin

The Tangerine Negroni Kit can be purchased here.

Martini

To make the perfect martini use 60ml gin and 1 tablespoon vermouth poured over ice, stirred and garnished with lemon peel.

The Martini Kit includes:

Mosgaard Organic Dry Gin

Montanaro Vermouth Bianco Di Torino

Hermitage Pre 1900 Cognacs

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Provenance

There are hundreds of small cognac houses, most sell their young brandies to the big houses, but a few keep their special treasures tucked away for those who appreciate the golden nectar. 

Hermitage Cognac Limited has, for decades, sourced cognacs from the very finest producers in the Premier Cru of cognac, known as Grande Champagne.  Perhaps because of our exposure to many small family creators of fine brandies, we occasionally find cognacs hidden away in family cellars, often referred to as ‘Paradis’.   These innermost chambers house small batches of cognac in glass bonbonnes and sometimes contain cognacs that were made more than one hundred years ago.  These cognacs may have lived in their barrels for decades, and some, because of how they were made and aged, will be the perfect nectars that we are proud to call Hermitage.

Old cognacs are rare, and cognacs made before 1900 are exceptionally rare.  Cognacs are produced in France.  Nowhere else in the world is allowed to call their brandy ‘cognac’. The available quantity of cognac made before 1900 is miniscule and consequently, the value of these old vintages is increasing. We do not know how many more old and desirable cognacs we will find. But what we do know is that when they are all sold, the value of those still in circulation will rise alarmingly.

Hermitage pre 1900 Cognacs

Vintage Cognac Values

During the 1990s individual bottles of vintage cognac, from as early as 1790, were available in the marketplace for between £1500 to £2000.  Cognacs from 1800 – 1860 could be purchased for between £1200 – £1700.

By 2015, very early bottles from before 1800, were being sold for £27,000 and cognacs from 1800 to 1860 for £12,000 to £19,000.

Within the last 5 years, two imperial three quarter gallon bottles of Massougnes, which in 2000 sold for £7000, sold in London for £246,000 each.

The acceleration of cognac values since 2015 leaves us in little doubt that by the end of the decade, prices will have doubled again.

Our Offering

In addition to purchasing our Hermitage Pre 1900 Cognacs in bottles, we also offer the range in glass bonbonnes.  Each vintage can be purchased in either 10 litre or 30 litre bonbonnes.

Our Latest 2004 Vintage Cognac

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2004 Vintage Cognac

We always like to introduce new vintages into our Hermitage Cognac range. The MD spends many hours visiting some of the many distillers, usually situated in Grande Champagne, looking for our next cognac masterpiece. Our latest find is a 2004 Vintage Cognac and for a cognac that is not yet 20 years old, it is sensational.

This Hermitage 2004 Grande Champagne Cognac comes from the gentle slopes around the town of Segonzac, in the centre of the premier cru.  A truly amazing cognac it has a complexity of flavours that would enhance many, much older spirits.

Aromas of cocoa, walnuts, dark toffee and truffle are followed by the rich and complex charecteristic flavours of the Hermitage style. These include dark toffee and cocoa which are followed by delicious bouts of clove, almond, damson and candied fruits.

Retailing at just under £130, this would make a magnificent present for the cognac lover in your life!