One more ghost bottling, that’s how I call them. We literally get no informations about them, then you see few pictures on Facebook groups and can’t find where you can buy them and at which price. Luckily, a friend was as fast as Nicky Larson to get a bottle and sent me a sample of it. I already released few articles about some Saint James Brut de fût, today let’s talk about the newest and older of them.
Saint James Brut de fût Velier Private casks 2001-2019 (50.3%, 1157 bottles)
Colour: Coffee with copper hues.
Nose: That’s the lower ABV we’ve got for a Saint James Brut de fût yet but it doesn’t seems to be flat at all! That’s more fruity and acidulous than his young brothers with a lot of citruses such as oranges, lemons and grapefruits. Then we have the wood presence but not excessively, roasted pineapples, marzipan, eucalyptus, overcooked caramel, vanilla, mocha, brown sugar and some floral notes.
Mouth: Pleasant thick texture. The wood is a bit too present this time but we still have these citruses acidulous notes. Candle wax, old furnitures, ginger, tannins, white pepper, bitter oranges, grapefruits, mint, burnt caramel, vanilla cream, black olives, ginger bread, cocoa and cloves. The citruses and wood combo makes it slightly too bitter, I preferred the nose to be honest.
Finish: Long, drying and slightly bitterish. Burnt wood, thick smoke, almonds, nuts, peppermint and cloves.
I enjoyed the fruity notes but the finish is clearly less pleasant, I must say I’m a bit disappointed, maybe due to the high level that its young brothers shown us.
Score: 86
No doubt it follows a common pattern with the two 2003 releases with a disappointing finish. On the other hand, the lower ABV isn’t clearly noticeable because of his nice aromatic strength, another nice batch but not a stunner in my opinion.
Thanks Niki for the sample, cheers!
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