Skip to main content

Harcourt XO French Brandy 750mL

When one thinks of Brandy and France – the mind turns to a single word – cognac. However dear friends it is worth recalling that cognac is a specific region of France and that there is no reason a brandy couldn’t come from elsewhere in the country. The question does hang in the air though – should it?

Despite some of the lower scores to follow – we do say yes. While Harcourt fails to be a great brandy, it’s fairly okay neat and we bet that warmed/mulled it’d be delightful. However as-is, it’s simply an average or subaverage brandy.

 

What they Say: “Combination of French Uni-Blanc and Chardonnay Grapes Aged in French Oak Barrels.”

 

Taste: 6.5 – You get some nice sweetness, with a more mellow almost honey like flavor. You can thankfully approve of the XO amount of time this spent in a cask.

Aftertaste: 3.5 – That aftertaste is akin to the aroma, much more raisin-like in flavor. It overall clashes in a way that can be best described as a mahogany hutch containing juice boxes.

Burn/Smooth: 3.5 – This does burn, and while it’s nowhere near as bad as some US brandies – it’s not great.

Aroma: 4.0 – Raisins, not grapes. While there’s a bit of almost banana like in this the overwhelming smell reminds one less of sophisticated vineyards and oak, and more of lunch boxes and trail mix. While nostalgia may be a driving force for many we’ll not let it taint the scores.

Honesty: 8.0 – They don’t have anything other than their name and the product really. And the design and look are stellar – like steal this bottle strip the label and make it a decanter good. Add that all up, and with no real black marks aside from the raisin nostalgia and well done.

Mixability: 2.75

W/ Rocks: 3.0 – If anything that serves to HIGHLIGHT all the bad aspects of the brandy. What crimes could be hidden by a warm neat glass are in full focus here and disdained.

Sidecar: 2.5 – So this is a tale of how much you adjust the ratios. Dead on and it’s too little brandy. Add too much and it goes the other way, get a perfect balance and it’s just chaos. Not a good sidecar by any metric.

Value: 5.0 – That is actually a fairly decent price for this. Sure it’s an abject failure in a cocktail and only mildly good neat, but it’s not like super expensive.

Google Shop Average: $19

Website: https://www.rockwoodimporters.com/  (This was as close a site we could find)

 

Reviewer Scores:

BuffaloJern: 4.0

Want to compare this spirit against our archives? Visit our statistics page.

Metric Score: 33.25/70 |+| Metric Average: 4.75 |+| Reviewer Average: 4.0

New to Honest Booze Reviews, or just wondering how we score? See our FAQ/Review Policy.

 

Final Thoughts: While (neat) this is decently enjoyable, it’s not stellar. It’s shit in a cocktail and only okay on neat once you get past some stuff. Don’t get me wrong, with the design and the fact that it’s French but not a cognac – we wanted this to be a winner. It is however not.

BuffaloJern

I am the Buffalo editor and curator of Honest Booze Reviews

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.