Costco Cognac, mmm!

[LotusEater]

Costco has a business plan that lets the customer in on their economy of scale, since they can buy a zillion cases of everything. You just have to be careful not to make yourself their warehouse by overstocking on their wholesale quantities. Another of their "things" is not offering too many choices, just one or two good deals per category. Otherwise, they feel, the customer just gets undecided and doesn't buy anything. They may not be right about everything, but they certainly make it pay, and have many good deals. Their cognac, malt, and port sound delicious ... making me thirsty. I too am in North Carolina. The ABC stores here ... that's another story.

Bottled in bond Bourbon!!!!

I'll be on the lookout. Thanks for the heads-up.

This is news I’ve been waiting to hear!

 

[LotusEater]

Heads up for those interested. Costco just dropped a single malt Islay whisky and a small batch bourbon. Both are in stores now. The Islay is excellent, seems like Bruichladdich to me. Haven't opened the small batch, but the reviews are good and it's only $18.99 for a 1L, the stock at my store was mostly pillaged. They have two more bourbons coming out in rotation. See pic below (not mine).

View attachment 84817

View attachment 84818

Can’t wait to try the Isley!

 

[LotusEater]

This is news I’ve been waiting to hear!

Sorry messed up that post
@mso489
What you said about Costco only offering a a small selection of choices is spot on. Barry Schwartz wrote a book about the “paradox of choice” and he has a very interesting Ted talk about

The paradox of choice

Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.

www.ted.com

 

[ofafeather]

Heading to Costco in CT tomorrow so will check they’re selection.

 

[troutface]

The gf, who loves Cognac, was about to put that Kirkland Cognac in the cart when I looked askance. Boy do I look like an idiot now. I told her as much. Next trip.

 

[ofafeather]

Picked these 3 up today. Was going to get the XO Cognac but decided to hold off as I was getting the whiskies. Is that he XO usually around? Don’t know if the small batch Tennessee Bourbon is a standard offering. Having some now in a Manhattan with a bowl of KBV Dark Fired Cherry. A good pairing. Prices are a bit higher in CT still a great deal. With tax was $99.

 

[LotusEater]

Picked these 3 up today. Was going to get the XO Cognac but decided to hold off as I was getting the whiskies. Is that he XO usually around? Don’t know if the small batch Tennessee Bourbon is a standard offering. Having some now in a Manhattan with a bowl of KBV Dark Fired Cherry. A good pairing. Prices are a bit higher in CT still a great deal. With tax was $99.
View attachment 85031

I’d be interested to hear what you think of the Islay when you try it. Is there any suggestion on the bottles as to who the actual distillers are?

 

[ofafeather]

Is there any suggestion on the bottles as to who the actual distillers are?

Not that I can see. Alexander Murray is on the label. Don’t know that helps.

 

[DangerStranger]

I’d be interested to hear what you think of the Islay when you try it. Is there any suggestion on the bottles as to who the actual distillers are?

Not that I can see. Alexander Murray is on the label. Don’t know that helps.

Alexander Murray is an independent bottler that does a fair amount of scotch. The Islay distiller isn't disclosed, but seems like a Bruichladdich. It's quite good and I don't think that it can be beat at the price point.

 

[DangerStranger]

I decided to take a chance on Costco's house brand Cognac:

View attachment 83436

At $45.99 for XO how bad could it be?

Pretty dang decent actually. It's a blend of 12-21 year old Cognacs and produced by Peyrat. As near as I can tell the primary difference between this and the regular label Peyrat is that the regular label starts at 15 years old and is without an upper age:

I grabbed a bottle of this yesterday when I went back to get some more of their bourbon. Excellent recommendation shanez! Definitely holds it own with much more expensive XO's.

 

[LotusEater]

Alexander Murray is an independent bottler that does a fair amount of scotch. The Islay distiller isn't disclosed, but seems like a Bruichladdich. It's quite good and I don't think that it can be beat at the price point.

Thanks for the info
I think I’m going to try the Islay and probably the bourbon too

 

[shanez]

The Costco near my work only had the small batch in but I grabbed a bottle to try. $19.99 for a 1 liter bottle! Can't be bad for that price.

I also picked up a bottle of 15 year old Sam Houston. Really looking forward to trying this.

If the small batch 1792 tastes like I think it will I'll get more at another location that will hopefully have the bottled in bond version.

I'll post some thoughts after I try this stuff.

 

[eslavs]

I just got a bottle of the Cognac and the Islay Scotch to take with me on vacation. Sampled the cognac last night and thought it was delightful. I'm looking forward to some time in the woods with both!

 

[Aomalley27]

Before I gave up the vice of alcohol, I used to enjoy Pierre Ferrand cognac, which was relatively inexpensive. Kinda spiked in price over the years.
There was another gimmick cognac I received as a gift, Celt, that supposedly sailed around the globe. It was good, though I doubted the circumnavigating the globe story.

 

[shanez]

Before I gave up the vice of alcohol, I used to enjoy Pierre Ferrand cognac, which was relatively inexpensive. Kinda spiked in price over the years.
There was another gimmick cognac I received as a gift, Celt, that supposedly sailed around the globe. It was good, though I doubted the circumnavigating the globe story.

Kelt Tour du Monde XO is a stellar Cognac. I've not tried the less aged offerings. I have tried their Petra though which is about $1700/bottle. My personal opinion is that the Petra would be worth maybe another $50/bottle over the XO but certainly not $1500/bottle more.

To be fair though I didn't try the Petra from a regular bottle. It was one of those little airplane bottles that was free with a couple of glasses in a Christmas box of the XO. It shouldn't make a difference though.

 

[Aomalley27]

Kelt Tour du Monde XO is a stellar Cognac. I've not tried the less aged offerings. I have tried their Petra though which is about $1700/bottle. My personal opinion is that the Petra would be worth maybe another $50/bottle over the XO but certainly not $1500/bottle more.

To be fair though I didn't try the Petra from a regular bottle. It was one of those little airplane bottles that was free with a couple of glasses in a Christmas box of the XO. It shouldn't make a difference though.

I’ve only tried an XO/Napoleon vintage once. Mostly stuck to VSOP.

 

[CoffeeAndBourbon]

The Costco near my work only had the small batch in but I grabbed a bottle to try. $19.99 for a 1 liter bottle! Can't be bad for that price.

I also picked up a bottle of 15 year old Sam Houston. Really looking forward to trying this.

If the small batch 1792 tastes like I think it will I'll get more at another location that will hopefully have the bottled in bond version.

I'll post some thoughts after I try this stuff.

I would love to find a bottle of Sam 15.

 

[shanez]

I would love to find a bottle of Sam 15.

Costco seemed to have plenty of it and it was about $30/bottle less than other retailers.

 

[Tar Wheel]

I would love to find a bottle of Sam 15.

I bought a Sam Houston 14 year old last year and haven’t cracked it yet. Looks like tonight might be the night.

 

[cshubhra]

My local Costco does not carry alcohol, so it’s a 35-40 min drive each way to one which does.

I did made the journey once.

Good - I found an excellent 21 yo Single Malt. Researching later, I understood that those are generally rejected Macallan Barrels.

Good - I also found a premium Bourbon offering from Jefferson’s Reserve

Not so good - No choices in the Single Malt Category / mid-range to premium category

Not so good - Feels a bit weird standing in a Costco line with only alcohol, when everyone else is buying groceries