Tom Gabb: Age statements and spirits
A couple of years ago Cognac producer Rémy Martin had the not so crazy idea to create a film to promote their premium product “Louis XIII”. The film served its purpose, gaining recognition in no small part because it stars John Malkovich and is directed by Robert Rodriguez. However, the thing that makes this interesting is that components of this Cognac brand take 100 years to age and the film, like the spirit, will remain unreleased for another century. So maybe don’t get too excited about seeing it.
The reason I mention this frustratingly enigmatic film is because the pervasive consumer consensus with spirits is that age is synonymous with quality, but this isn’t necessarily true. The message of the Rémy Martin marketing is clear, it is practically shouting “we age our cognac for 100 years” because they know to us that translates as “our cognac is good”. Though in reality, while this spirit is amazing it isn’t as good as say, the 2017 best cognac in the world ‘Leyrat Glory extra’ and we know this because one is the best cognac in the world and the other isn’t.
This is an example of what I am talking about, the Rémy Martin is very expensive (£5,000) and very old, whereas the Leyrat is cheaper (£300) and younger, but clearly this has little correlation to the quality of the actual drink. The basic misunderstanding may come from the fact that while older may not mean better, it certainly does mean more expensive. This is for a number of reasons but most notably is that when aging spirits in a warmer climate, it’s possible to lose 80% of that barrel to evaporation, so essentially you are compounding the price of that liquid.
The message I am trying to convey is that if you are looking to spend more money on a bottle of whiskey, don’t be seduced by a 25-year age statement. If anything, a much better indication of quality is the producer and if it’s a particular flavour you are looking for, then look at the type of barrel it is aged in i.e. sherry or bourbon casks. All this being said, if you want to live long enough to see that Malkovich film you should probably give up the booze all together.
