-
Join the MyBroadband community
South Africa’s biggest forum. Discuss, discover, and connect with thousands of members.
-
Question of the Day: Have you ever been to an airshow?
Brandy lovers thread
- Thread starter dualmeister
- Start date
dualmeister
Honorary Master
dualmeister
Honorary Master
Platters Brandy 5 Star Shootout
Every year our wine sense are guided by a delightful little book called Platter’s Wine Guide. It is a collection of most of the wines available in South Africa and they do the tough job of grading these wines as well to help you discern between the mediocre, great and amazing.
For the past few years Platter’s Guide has included brandy in their reviews, not only introducing the South African wine consumer to brandy, but introducing some lesser known (and available) brandies to us.
This year no less than 8 brandies were awarded the top marks of a Platter 5 Star award! A true distinction of quality, superior taste and value of the craft. We here at Brandy & Ginger however wanted to take it one step further… How do these 5 Star accolades compare to each other, hence the Platter’s 5 Star Brandy Shootout.
This was a tremendous task to distinguish and separate such highly awarded and quality brandies from each other. We are aware that there is copious amounts of information to give through when comparatively tasting all these brandies against each other, so for ease of access we will start this review off with a summary of our findings followed by the more detailed tasting notes and scores.
The Results:
KWV 15 Year Old Alambic
Boplaas 20 Year Old
KWV 20 Year Old & Van Ryn’s 20 Year Old Collectors Reserve
Some additional comments:
It is hard to compare the KWV 12 and the Van Ryn’s 12 seeing as they are two totally different brandies regardless of the same age! The KWV 12 scored better on this tasting and will always be a bargain at the current price tag, but don’t let my rating of the Van Ryn’s 12 deter you from this great brandy with complexity that rightfully comes with the price. It might be a bit pricey, but every drop is worth every penny.
The three 20YO’s scored so very close and the Boplaas narrowly came out on top between the 20YO’s. All three of them are amazing in their own right at it is very difficult to hand out accolades. Each one of these brandies could have won on any given day, and all three undoubtedly deserves their 5 stars.
The KWV 15 was stand out yet again! It has been some time since it was last tasted, but the recollections were confirmed and it was the definite favourite today. Considering the price of a bottle it is definitely 1st place material all the way.
(Strong) Personal opinions aside, Platter has done an excellent job in handing out their stars and in no way can their ourtcomes be criticized. Job well done… Each one of these brandies deserve a tip of the hat from a country that is undeniably the best brandy producer in the world, and you shouldn’t dare to say no to anyone of them!
Enjoy and pleasant drinking
Every year our wine sense are guided by a delightful little book called Platter’s Wine Guide. It is a collection of most of the wines available in South Africa and they do the tough job of grading these wines as well to help you discern between the mediocre, great and amazing.
For the past few years Platter’s Guide has included brandy in their reviews, not only introducing the South African wine consumer to brandy, but introducing some lesser known (and available) brandies to us.
This year no less than 8 brandies were awarded the top marks of a Platter 5 Star award! A true distinction of quality, superior taste and value of the craft. We here at Brandy & Ginger however wanted to take it one step further… How do these 5 Star accolades compare to each other, hence the Platter’s 5 Star Brandy Shootout.
This was a tremendous task to distinguish and separate such highly awarded and quality brandies from each other. We are aware that there is copious amounts of information to give through when comparatively tasting all these brandies against each other, so for ease of access we will start this review off with a summary of our findings followed by the more detailed tasting notes and scores.
The Results:
KWV 15 Year Old Alambic
Boplaas 20 Year Old
KWV 20 Year Old & Van Ryn’s 20 Year Old Collectors Reserve
Some additional comments:
It is hard to compare the KWV 12 and the Van Ryn’s 12 seeing as they are two totally different brandies regardless of the same age! The KWV 12 scored better on this tasting and will always be a bargain at the current price tag, but don’t let my rating of the Van Ryn’s 12 deter you from this great brandy with complexity that rightfully comes with the price. It might be a bit pricey, but every drop is worth every penny.
The three 20YO’s scored so very close and the Boplaas narrowly came out on top between the 20YO’s. All three of them are amazing in their own right at it is very difficult to hand out accolades. Each one of these brandies could have won on any given day, and all three undoubtedly deserves their 5 stars.
The KWV 15 was stand out yet again! It has been some time since it was last tasted, but the recollections were confirmed and it was the definite favourite today. Considering the price of a bottle it is definitely 1st place material all the way.
(Strong) Personal opinions aside, Platter has done an excellent job in handing out their stars and in no way can their ourtcomes be criticized. Job well done… Each one of these brandies deserve a tip of the hat from a country that is undeniably the best brandy producer in the world, and you shouldn’t dare to say no to anyone of them!
Enjoy and pleasant drinking
grok
Honorary Master
Non-brandy-necro I know but I received a bottle of this nectar from my dad for my birthday. I'm not a big sweet wine drinker but this stuff is pure gold
Gotta have more tho, going to order online R75 per bottle http://www.crazywine.co.za/assets/crazy-wine-pricelist-2015.pdf
dualmeister
Honorary Master
Shhht. Prolly made a mistake like with the 10 year old a while back 
Oh now that there is life in this thread again if you find yourself in Wellington do lookup Roger Jorgensen. He's got a lovely brandy, but dabbles in all sorts of other things like vodka, gin and absinthe. Great guy, very entertaining show and tell in his distillery. He even offers distilling courses.
dualmeister
Honorary Master
dualmeister
Honorary Master
Dunno how Im going to tell the wife I spent the PnP Smart Shopper bucks on a bottle of Brandy
Dunno how Im going to tell the wife I spent the PnP Smart Shopper bucks on a bottle of Brandy
Do the inverse. Tell her she gets to spend the points you earned
dualmeister
Honorary Master
Hehe. The 15 year old is better than the 20 year old.
You can buy 3 bottles of 15 for the current price of the 20
How much more motivation do you need?
dualmeister
Honorary Master
Don't tempt me 
TheMightyQuin
Not amused...
Two excellent ones I'm drinking at the moment:
Oude Molen Rene Single Cask
TOKARA Director's Reserve 2008 Potstill Brandy
Wish I had R500 lying around for that Van Rhyn's "error"....
Oude Molen Rene Single Cask
TOKARA Director's Reserve 2008 Potstill Brandy
Wish I had R500 lying around for that Van Rhyn's "error"....
I've been on a bit of spring clean. Not opening new bottles till what's open is done. Switching between remy vsop, Kwv 12 (quite good actually), imoya and fives reserve.
I've heard good things about tokara, must try it.
I've heard good things about tokara, must try it.
dualmeister
Honorary Master
Haven't touched mine yet.
