Château Garreau - Exclusive Single Cask Armagnac
"La Bête" 2005
Cask #11, Aged in Gascony "Black Oak"
Harvested and Distilled in 2005
Bottled in 2021
Cask Strength, 52.3%, 16 years old
NCF, No Additives

At long last The Beast's French cousin, La Bête, has arrived!

This is our first importing project here at Beast Masters Club, and we couldn't be more proud and excited! We tasted barrels from all over the Armagnac region of France last year. We wanted to pick something for our own exclusive label. But like all our maiden voyages, we were extremely picky about what to pack.

First of all, we wanted true single casks. No topping off (which is very common), no blending, no added water... Something that was put in a cask for us and left to age right up until we dumped it into some bottles. We wanted something super bold in flavor, unique, special, and unlike anything you could possibly buy in a store. We wanted a beautiful label and bottle presentation. And we wanted a great price.

And we got all those things, but that's just the beginning of the story.

Château Garreau is a family business located in Labastide d'Armagnac in southwestern France that has been operating for over 100 years. In 1919 Charles Garreau settled in this location, the famous "tawny sands" region, and began making Armagnac. Today his great-granddaughter Carole Garreau runs the operation. Carole insists on the same traditions, ingredients, and production methods that the family has used for four generations. We are the first in the entire US to get a cask of Garreau!

We tasted Garreau's spirit unaged, and across a dozen vintages. This 2005 100% Baco grape vintage was a total knock-out! Dark and oily, super punchy and rich, with layer after layer of incredible flavors.

The first wave of flavors is a huge rush of ripe fruits: raisins, plums, apricots. Then we go into dark chocolate, tobacco, and tree bark. Lovely wood flavors come next with little wafts of toasty oak and sweet char. It just keeps going with flowers and herbs coming in after that. Wildflowers and mint, menthol, sage, and rosemary.

The palate is lovely white chocolate sweet with some more stone fruits and a wrapping of sweets and toasted oak. It's super thick and oily. You can totally tell it's cask strength with a superb amount of flavor, viscosity, and body.

Then the finish hits with soft grapes, lemon, and more sweets, cocoa, and raisins.

It's one of these things that just keeps opening up with time in the glass. It's super smooth yet incredibly flavorful. You can take your time with a glass and just nose and sip it gradually as layer after layer of flavor come out.

Really amazing Armagnac reviews are hard to write because the flavors are so deep and complex that it just starts to get silly trying to name them all. You just really need to taste this one. We can't wait for you to experience it for yourself!