Brenne is a cognac barrel finished single malt from France that bills itself as “a new taste profile to the Single Malt category”. On the website the creator goes on talk about how Brenne “embodies the terroir and style of the region in which it is produced: Cognac, France” and how they’re “not trying to be a Scotch just made in a different country” and that “this is truly a French Whisky”.
First off nothing can be a “Scotch just made in another country” because Scotch a term that only applies to whisky made, aged and bottled in Scotland. Single malts, grain whisky, blends, vats, bastard malts and any other variation or type of whisky that might come from Scotland are all Scotch. You can’t make a Scotch in a different country.
A site plagued by horrible marketing speak aside, the whisky itself is… interesting. Each bottle comes from a single barrel of spirit that’s been twice distilled in Alembic stills used for cognac and is then aged in new Limousin oak casks before being finished in wet cognac barrels. This is very similar to how the abomination that is Bastille is created, except after the Limousin aging they go off and play musical barrels a few more times. It’s an intriguing process, but what’s it taste like? Let’s find out shall we.
Brenne – French Single Malt Whisky Review
Barrel: 261
ABV: 40%
Age: 7ish years
Price: $55
Distiller: Brenne
EYE
Burnt copper
NOSE
Intense sugary tropical fruit charges out of the glass and leaves a wake of cognac spice, cinnamon, mild grapiness, malt and vanilla frosting with some bubblegum and cough syrup notes in the back. It’s cloying, clingy and overly sweet on the nose. Let’s hope it calms down on the palate.
PALATE
Nope, no luck here. The sugary sweet tropical fruit and bubblegum notes just barge on through and end up dominating the palate leaving little room for notes of cognac spice, cinnamon and vanilla frosting to eek on through. I like cognac, and I like malt based whisky, but there is something odd going on here in the combo that’s making it hard to enjoy. I blame the Limousin oak.
FINISH
More sugary sweet tropical fruit fades out painfully slow with some sour, ashy, funky and woody notes.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Way off balance. I can’t believe Wine Enthusiast gave this 93 points (actually I can). The sugar laden tropical notes completely take over. The full body with its heavy sticky feel doesn’t help matters much either and it ends up reminding me of a syrup one might drink if they were feeling a bit under the weather.
OVERALL
Not good. It’s one dimensional with the sugary sweet notes killing everything else. It’s hard to get beyond that sickly sweet bubblegum meets fruit-punch kick and discover much else, but when you do they comes in as hints and whispers. Limousin oak seems to give everything a bit of bubblegum along with some sticky sugary notes. Heavily flavored punch bowls or cocktails that use fruit juice is the only place I could consume this. Definitely among my least favorite whiskies.
SCORE: 70/100
Its very existence is unfortunate.
I knew right away. French Single-malt Whisky. It was a holiday gift from someone in the office. I’m thinking, wtf? Not “Oh, that sounds interesting.” It did not. I knew.
If “what it is” were not enough of an indicator, how’s this for context. I was in my office. Someone else was with me, discussing something or other. Suddenly a knock on the door, no wait for response, and in comes Al, thrusting the bottle at me, unwrapped, saying, “I just got a positive test result for Covid, I didn’t have time to wrap it, I’m going home. Happy holidays.”
I’ve gone on too long. Everything you think I’m going to say about it is true. It is absolutely vile, undrinkable. I really don’t know what to do with it. I just had my first two fingers’ worth, and my last. I have never in my life poured a bottle down the drain, but… I guess I can save it for emergencies, but I have two bottles of JW Blue under the kitchen sink for that. (There were three, but then Covid happened. It seemed appropriate to open one. I actually liked it, though I didn’t expect to.)
Anyway, thanks for the spot-on review. I’m glad to know I’m not crazy, and that that this is not the next big thing. The well-intentioned non-whisky-drinker, Al, was likely duped by the shop that sold it to him, sensing a sucker. Shame in them.
Shame on them indeed, but thank you for sharing all of this Keith, it was an entertaining read. Cheers!
It is something
Your review was dead-on. I cannot fathom how this is not the universal reaction. On the nose there are distinct similarities with southern comfort so much so that I had to dust off a bottle and do a side by side and the nose at least was pretty close. It doesn’t taste like cognac so if this profile was in part achieved by careful grain selection, terroir and proprietary yeast then that’s an interesting accomplishment. So if you don’t care for single malts but love southern comfort- you should definitely try this, and then buy southern comfort because it’s cheaper……..
“you should definitely try this, and then buy southern comfort because it’s cheaper…….” That should be SoCo’s new marketing line :D Cheers John!
Bubblegum meets fruit punch nails the taste of this stuff. Loving single malts, this stuff is hard to choke down.
Cheers Spotman!
Yep, it’s bad.
French Scotch? Why, that’s an Irishism!
Good thing you taste this stuff, so we don’t have to.
Haha. It’s a tough job, but someone has to do it ;)
French Scotch?! Why, that’s an Irishism!
Good thing you taste this stuff sober don’t have to.