Magical Moments that Brighten Odin's Life!

Sometimes it happens. I try a drink and am positively, POSITIVELY surprised. Surprised to the extent that I reach out to an outsider to get a second opinion. In this case the outsider was an importer of high-quality French brandies that happened to visit iStill HQ. Why I got positively surprised? Why I needed this second opinion? Because William had just presented me with a brandy made by one of the iStill students, just a few days before ...

Brandy is the first thing students of the iStill University make, when they visit us for the practical and hands-on master distillers training. And to be frank: the results are mostly unimpressive. The wine isn't that great. The students aren't trained that well yet. The resulting brandies are a first try, and should be judged accordingly. Until one gets surprised, that is.

What I tasted, when William put that glass in front of me, was an amazing, barrel-aged brandy. Well-cut, full of flavor, ready to drink. How is that possible? Well, the student in question had fast-aged the brandy on wood for 2 1/2 days, forcing the maturation process forward, while mellowing out the spirit to the level that it became not just drinkable, but really, really enjoyable. So enjoyable that I needed a second opinion. From someone at home in the world of high-end Cognacs and brandies, but without formal iStill training. An educated, yet unbiased opinion.

As he tasted the brandy, he told me this: "This is no doubt a Cognac, aged between 14 and 16 years. Well-aged, made to perfection. What brand is it? I need to know as I want to represent it!"

What he drank? A 55% strong brandy, made on the iStill Mini, just three days ago, and that had seen 2 1/2 days of accelerated aging on wood chips. The amazing thing is not that this young product "fooled" the expert. The amazing take-away is that the drink actually is as good as a 14 to 16 year old supreme Cognac.

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