St Agnes XO Grand Reserve 40 Year Old

Malt Mileage Rating: 

Type: Brandy

Origin: South Australia, Australia

ABV: 43%

St Agnes is quite possibly the most famous brand of Australian brandy. Australian whisky may be in boom times, which is reflected by the establishment of an unprecedented amount of whisky distilleries  and bars in Australia (which seem to be popping up everywhere), but the large scale commercial production of Australian brandy principally remains the domain of the Angove company – the self proclaimed “family winemakers” from South Australia who make St Agnes brandy.

St Agnes XO Grand Reserve 40 Year Old is a full-flavoured brandy with lots of depth, and it brims with the rancio notes you would expect in an old Cognac or Armagnac – mild earthy notes of mushroom and smoky wood and tobacco drift over a foundation of dried fruit, dates, prune and nuts; it is a well-rounded, dense, rummy brandy with lots of wood smoke. The taste of oak is heavy and lingering with saffron and clove amidst the wood smoke, which is perhaps unsurprising after this brandy has spent over 40 years maturing in oak casks in South Australia’s climate.

This brandy sells for about AU$750.