Brenne is a French whisky that was launched in 2012 by Allison Patel in collaboration with a distiller in Cognac. It is harvested, distilled, matured and bottled in Cognac, some of the maturation taking place in ex-Cognac barrels too, yum. It is a no-age statement whisky as each cask that gets bottled is different depending on the length of time the Cognac was in the finishing barrel, but they say it is usually around 7 years old.

I remember hearing about this a few years ago and instantly wanted to try some, I love whisky and I love Cognac, it was surely going to be a match made in heaven. Well it took me until early this year before I my hands on a bottle as nowhere seem to have any in stock in the UK.

The nose is like nothing I have ever smelt before, you just get this huge whiff of rhubarb & custard sweets mixed in with strawberries & cream sweets, it’s amazing, not really a whisky nose, but amazing nonetheless. It therefore obviously has a sweetness to the nose, a sugary sweetness which is difficult to get through. After aerating for awhile though you do begin to get some baked banana notes coming through.

Onto the palate and it is predictably sweet and really quite viscous, almost liqueur like. The strawberries & cream is still predominate for me with some of the banana coming through too. This leads onto a more toffee sweetness and slightly more depth along with it. Mid-palate is when the oak and the spice start to come through which both follow through to the medium length finish, giving a slight dryness too.

So what do I think overall? Well it’s hard to say, as a whisky I suppose it is not great if you are after depth, complexity and/or a traditional Scotch. As a spirit though, I really think it works, as long as you take it for what it is. The nose is amazing, the palate is what you would expect from the nose and the finish is something completely different.

Was I disappointed after waiting so long to try it? No. A little surprised by what I got I will admit, but not disappointed. It is a great drink in it’s own right and I say congratulations to Allison Patel for creating something so unique and enjoyable.

Incidentally it is a great cocktail drink, it has more than enough to hold it’s own as a mixer, and there are several recipes on the Brenne website for you get try too.