Anyone Try Remy Martin King Louis the XVIII ????

[Rink]

Has Anyone ever tried this Cognac?
If so how different is it to remy Martin XO?

I at one time had a chance to taste it on a cruise in 1998 but didnt get to because it was like $70 dollars a glass.

I wanna have me a bottle of this stiff someday [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]

[winoweenie]

Hi Rink and welcome to the board. Have had this wonderful porion many times. Not sure my tastes are sophisticated enough to tell the difference between the Louis and other top Cognacs'. The major thing is if you can afford it indulge yourself. WW

[2 RIP]

I had a chance of having a shot of Remy Martin Louis XIII, last week, it was kind of pricey, $120/shot, but sometimes its just worth it, but if you want to try tasting it but not really tasting it, buy a bottle of Remy Martin V.S.O.P ($30), they almost sort of, taste alike, but the Louis is way much smoother and the texture and flavors are much more enriched. Its pricey for a bottle of Louis the 13th, almost $800/bottle. Hope this helped you out.

[Bucko]

We drink the XO at our household. I can't appreciate the eightfold price increase for the XVIII..........

[AlpineOeno]

At that price level, you're paying for the name. It is damn good, but you will get much more character out of a $300 Armagnac. If you're interested, look for 1958 Armagnacs. It was an underrated vintage, so the prices are reasonable (relatively speaking), and they're drinking very well.

[This message has been edited by AlpineOeno (edited 08-28-2005).]

[Drew]

You're also paying for the Baccarat crystal bottle it's contained in.

Drew

[jmcginley1]

At a restaurant I used to work at, a bottle of this was drank by a few managers one night and re-filled with Remy XO. It continued to be sold at $135 a pour, and no one noticed. Over-hyped drink?

[Thomas]

I cast my lot with AlpineOeno.

For the money, I'll take a good Armagnac over Cognac any day. I also like the fact that the former continues with the traditional method of distillation.

A lot of the smoothness in many Cognacs gets there via caramel... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/smile.gif[/img]

[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 08-29-2005).]

[Thraz]

The caramel thing is the not-so-dirty secret of the distillation world... I was a tour guide at a fine Speyside whisky distillery one summer as a student (a while ago now), where I learned from the craftsmen that all scotch whiskies that have the typical scotch color get it through caramel, even the well-known single malts (that bit was not part of the official tour). In theory scotch gets the color through maturation in old shery casks. However, there are just not enough sherry casks to go around. And it would take a long, long time for the color to come through from just casks - longer than the maturation period of most scotch whiskies you can buy retail. The secret is not-so-dirty though because it does not really affect taste or texture - just color. And I would not be surprised if armagnac and cognac made use of the trick too, but I wouldn't think taste would be impacted there either.

[Thomas]

Depends, Thraz, on the level of caramel additions. It's a sugar and a thick one at that. It certainly has the ability of both balancing out harshness and making the texture smooth.

Since it is a secret, we will never know the level of additions, but it's done. My problem is: how much more are we asked to pay for an addition of sugar that makes it "smooth?"

I am getting way too cynical in my dotage...