About the Producer
Stoutridge is a distillery and winery in the Hudson River valley region of upstate New York. The winery was founded in 2000 by Kim Wagner and Stephan Osborne and was followed by a distillery in 2017.
The distillery produced a ton of different products from more common liqours like bourbon, rye and gins to less common eau-de-vies, grappa and amaro to the truly weird like liqueurs made from mastic sap, pistachio tree sap or myrrh.
If you are in the area I recommend going in for a tasting, even if just to try some of the wild flavors. The owners will be willing to talk your ear off on what they do and their opinion on wine making and distilling. Just a recommendation is that their distilled products are much better than their wines in my book.
Details
• 47% abv
• Double distilled in direct fired pot stills.
• Aged for 3yrs in ex-Pinot Noir barrels and finished 1 yr in a 2500L Cognac foudre.
• Grapes from the Hudson Valley.
• Mostly from Niagara grapes. Thought they said included Seyval Blanc too but memory is hazy.
• Got for $85 at the distillery
Nose
A lot going on and fairly intense. Complex spiciness with cumin, turmeric and clove. A strong savoriness that I’m having a hard time pining down; maybe mushroom or soy. Light sweetness and fruitiness with white grapes and a fresh raspberries. Unique and very complex; sounds like it’d be disjointed but it isn’t.
Palate
Similar to the nose with the same spiciness and savoriness. A medium amount of winey flavors; has juicy red berry notes. Fairly dry. Bold and again fairly complex with a heavy richness. Mouth coating and prickly texture. Similar to the nose is very unique but not off balance. I think 47% is a great abv for this; any less and you would miss out on the boldness while any higher and I fear it would get unbalanced. Very good.
Finish
Medium and spicy.
Rating: 7
Overall
A brandy that won’t be for everyone but is one of my favorite American brandies. Despite the high price this is a re-buy for sure. It is bold and complex but a bit atypical with the cumin-like notes.
There is a kind of interesting subcategory of American brandies of that produced are aged in red wine barrels. These mostly come from wineries that naturally have a good amount of barrel aged wines, examples are Starlight out of IN, Avrea, Pendray and a ton of other small producers around the US. If done well they can have great juicy fruit notes but the tannins from the red wine can easily unbalance the brandy as it ages. Incognito still retains it’s balance and is easily my favorite brandy aged in red wine casks.
1 | Disgusting | So bad I poured it out.
2 | Poor | I wouldn’t consume by choice.
3 | Bad | Multiple flaws.
4 | Sub-par | Not bad, but many things I’d rather have.
5 | Good | Good, just fine.
6 | Very Good | A cut above.
7 | Great | Well above average
8 | Excellent | Really quite exceptional.
9 | Incredible | An all time favorite
10 | Perfect | Perfect
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