Help me with a practical joke (Cognac based!)

Help me with a practical joke (Cognac based!)

Author
Discussion

Rovinghawk

13,300 posts

157 months

Wednesday 20th July 2016
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I don't know about Aldi cognac but I do know that their scotches win plenty of awards at blind tastings if that helps.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 20th July 2016
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Sounds fun but surely his first comment will be what are you heathens doing with a £1500 bottle of brandy and why has it already been opened.... Rum is the only spirit i drink so I cant help on the contents sorry!!

ChasW

2,135 posts

201 months

Wednesday 20th July 2016
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The Aldi cognac won an award as has their gin which is refreshingly different from the norm. The award motif will be on the bottle.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Wednesday 20th July 2016
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Dunno about cognac but I can tell the difference between a £30 bottle of whisky and a £100 bottle.

battered

4,088 posts

146 months

Wednesday 20th July 2016
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Why not just standard Hennessy VSOP at £30 a go?

MagicalTrevor

6,476 posts

228 months

Wednesday 20th July 2016
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pablo said:
Sounds fun but surely his first comment will be what are you heathens doing with a £1500 bottle of brandy and why has it already been opened.... Rum is the only spirit i drink so I cant help on the contents sorry!!
What he said

don4l

10,058 posts

175 months

Wednesday 20th July 2016
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Ffffaster said:
We have a friend who is a bit of a pseudo-aristocrat. He's a lovely, lovely bloke but he does belong to the school of "expensive is always better" and he's the sort who waxes lyrical about pricey bottles of wine when the rest of us really can't discern the difference.

We think that he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a “normal” bottle of alcohol and one of the more expensive ones, though he claims he could because it's "obvious".

So, we’ve decided to put him to the test without his knowledge.

We’ve managed to secure a very lovely (but very empty) bottle of expensive Hennessey Paradis Imperial Cognac (which costs £1,500 new!). http://www.drinksupermarket.com/hennessy-paradis-i...

The plan is to fill it with something rather less grand and get him to drink it. He will go into hyperboles and that’s when we plan to show him the picture of the real bottle being distilled into the expensive bottle!

I do appreciate that this isn’t a particularly sophisticated practical joke, and it may not even be funny to most, but it will amuse us!

My question is: what cheap cognac would you suggest we fill in the expensive bottle? I know nothing about cognac, so don’t want to refill it with something that is obviously much inferior and spoils the fun!

I’ve done a little reading and apparently Aldi’s Chevalier Cognac VS https://www.aldi.co.uk/p/41466/0 is supposed to be great tasting and only costs £29!

Do you think this is good enough to go into the “joke” bottle? Our friend is not expert, but he’s not a mug either!

Thank you all because I'm not particularly sophisticated! No unpleasant comments about the friend please. He’s a lovely bloke but we all have our faults and his is harmless!
If your friend has actually tasted the Hennessey, then I don't think that you will succeed in fooling him.

If you are sure that he hasn't tasted it, then it would be good to see you pull this off.

Don't try it with a French Cognac. Get a Spanish brandy. IMHO, they are in a different league altogether. If you doubt me, nip down to Tescos and buy the cheapest Spanish brandy and compare it to a standard French Cognac.

You might be able to pull this off with a £20 - £30 bottle of Spanish.

However, don't even try it if he has tasted the real thing.


Ffffaster

Original Poster:

239 posts

159 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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don4l said:
If your friend has actually tasted the Hennessey, then I don't think that you will succeed in fooling him.

If you are sure that he hasn't tasted it, then it would be good to see you pull this off.

Don't try it with a French Cognac. Get a Spanish brandy. IMHO, they are in a different league altogether. If you doubt me, nip down to Tescos and buy the cheapest Spanish brandy and compare it to a standard French Cognac.

You might be able to pull this off with a £20 - £30 bottle of Spanish.

However, don't even try it if he has tasted the real thing.
Thank you. That's very helpful and something to consider as well. I suspect he has tried Hennessey (I haven't). You sound rather more worldly to me so could I ask for a Spanish brandy recommendation and a link(s)?

don4l

10,058 posts

175 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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Ffffaster said:
don4l said:
If your friend has actually tasted the Hennessey, then I don't think that you will succeed in fooling him.

If you are sure that he hasn't tasted it, then it would be good to see you pull this off.

Don't try it with a French Cognac. Get a Spanish brandy. IMHO, they are in a different league altogether. If you doubt me, nip down to Tescos and buy the cheapest Spanish brandy and compare it to a standard French Cognac.

You might be able to pull this off with a £20 - £30 bottle of Spanish.

However, don't even try it if he has tasted the real thing.
Thank you. That's very helpful and something to consider as well. I suspect he has tried Hennessey (I haven't). You sound rather more worldly to me so could I ask for a Spanish brandy recommendation and a link(s)?
Unfortunately, there are not many Spanish brandies on sale in UK supermarkets. My wife is Spanish, so I either get miner in Spain, or the in-laws bring a bottle when they visit. I wasn't aware that so few are available here.

Gran Duque De Alba - Solera Gran Reserva is very nice, however it looks like it costs £40 a bottle. It is incredibley smooth and quite rich.

If that is out of budget, then Waitrose have Torres Gran Reserva at £16.00. It is better than French Cognacs costing 3 times as much.


My brother is a wine snob. Recently, at a family gathering, he waxed lyrical about a red wine. He wasn't at all happy when I told him that it was from Lidl, and it only cost £4.50.

battered

4,088 posts

146 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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Using a decent Spanish brandy is about right, because if he can't tell Spanish from Cognac and he claims to be some sort of expert then it really is egg on face time. Standard Hennessy vs super-duper Hennessy is easy to excuse, you can BS your way out of that. But Spanish to Cognac is like mistaking a Yorkshire bitter for a traditional English ale from somewhere in S England.

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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don4l said:
My brother is a wine snob. Recently, at a family gathering, he waxed lyrical about a red wine. He wasn't at all happy when I told him that it was from Lidl, and it only cost £4.50.
LOL. People can be such idiots about drinks.

Hoofy

76,253 posts

281 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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bulldong said:
don4l said:
My brother is a wine snob. Recently, at a family gathering, he waxed lyrical about a red wine. He wasn't at all happy when I told him that it was from Lidl, and it only cost £4.50.
LOL. People can be such idiots about drinks.
And everything else. I wonder how many people avoid the GT86 because it's a Toyota not a BMW, for instance.

Ffffaster

Original Poster:

239 posts

159 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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battered said:
Using a decent Spanish brandy is about right, because if he can't tell Spanish from Cognac and he claims to be some sort of expert then it really is egg on face time. Standard Hennessy vs super-duper Hennessy is easy to excuse, you can BS your way out of that. But Spanish to Cognac is like mistaking a Yorkshire bitter for a traditional English ale from somewhere in S England.
Thank you all again.

Working on using a "cheap" Hennessey, which one should I buy? Link would be great. Thank you!

James P

2,950 posts

236 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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don4l said:
Unfortunately, there are not many Spanish brandies on sale in UK supermarkets. My wife is Spanish, so I either get miner in Spain, or the in-laws bring a bottle when they visit. I wasn't aware that so few are available here.

Gran Duque De Alba - Solera Gran Reserva is very nice, however it looks like it costs £40 a bottle. It is incredibley smooth and quite rich.

If that is out of budget, then Waitrose have Torres Gran Reserva at £16.00. It is better than French Cognacs costing 3 times as much.


My brother is a wine snob. Recently, at a family gathering, he waxed lyrical about a red wine. He wasn't at all happy when I told him that it was from Lidl, and it only cost £4.50.
Sainsburys generally have one (local to me in S London anyway) - about £27/litre.

battered

4,088 posts

146 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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Ffffaster said:
Thank you all again.

Working on using a "cheap" Hennessey, which one should I buy? Link would be great. Thank you!
Look on Amazon, there's a "standard" one that's about £27 or £30 a bottle. Whatever version that is, get it from your local wine shop.

fredt

847 posts

146 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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Interested to see where this one goes! Used to drink a ton of cognac, and after a blind tasting between Otard XO and VSOP I stopped buying expensive cognac... Massive difference between the crappiest and half decent, but after passing 30-40 quid I struggle to taste much difference.

Posh booze in posh places after posh dinner does taste amazing though, but I know most of the difference is in my head.

don4l

10,058 posts

175 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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Ffffaster said:
battered said:
Using a decent Spanish brandy is about right, because if he can't tell Spanish from Cognac and he claims to be some sort of expert then it really is egg on face time. Standard Hennessy vs super-duper Hennessy is easy to excuse, you can BS your way out of that. But Spanish to Cognac is like mistaking a Yorkshire bitter for a traditional English ale from somewhere in S England.
Thank you all again.

Working on using a "cheap" Hennessey, which one should I buy? Link would be great. Thank you!
Go to the pub and try a cheap Hennessey.

It tastes like meths.

You will not fool him with a cheap Hennessey.


The cheapest Spanish brandy is "Ciento Tres" (103). It is far better than Remy Martin or Martell. Unfortunately, I do not think that it is sold here.


ikarl

3,730 posts

198 months

Thursday 21st July 2016
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Is he the kind of guy that will laugh it off and act cool about it?... Or will he be pissed that you've all 'ganged up' on him to embarrass him?

sgrimshaw

7,311 posts

249 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
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I find Spanish brandy is far sweeter than French cognac, but I prefer it.

Carlos III is stocked in some Sainsburys, no other supermarket stocks it any longer to my knowledge, £22/litre

IMO best of the Spanish one's fairly easily found here.

WCZ

10,492 posts

193 months

Friday 22nd July 2016
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you need a good backstory (unless you are the kind of person who just splashes this kind of cash around anyway) or he will smell a rat

either way let us know!