Comte Louis de Lauriston 1963 42% (2020 bottling)

1963. The Beatles haven’t released A Hard Day’s Night yet. The Porsche 911 is still supposed to be named 901. And my dad isn’t even born yet. 57 years of ageing under the rainy, quiet climate of southern Normandy. 42%. Let’s go!

Colour: Mahogany, orange lights. Irregular medium tears.

Nose: Great tea-ish shades at first, mainly breakfast tea. Quite minty. Lactic nuances, giving peach yoghurt impressions. A tad of balsamic notes too. Deep rancio.

Palate: Oily texture, dominated again by Intense liquorice notes at first. A nice kick of acidity in the aftertaste, which is always a good surprise for such an old spirit. Buttery and pastry-like shades. But overall, you’ve got a gigantic liquorice note. A little wood astringency in the background.

Last Notes: Rounder with air, with toffee and caramel sweets notes. Back on the palate, you get precious wood notes and liquorice, liquorice and liquorice again. It ends on pistachio and bourbon vanilla.

Rustic and very aromatic. I only miss a bit of balance and wood integration to score it higher. If you’re a liquorice chewer, that’s a tailor-made dram.

My very subjective note: 88+/100