Port report

Over the past few weeks, G has kindly shared some of his "advent calendar" of port from Quevedo, a Portuguese winery which I hadn't come across before. The concept was 24 x 90ml bottles in a wooden box, which provided some good opportunities for comparison. 

First up was a 1997 Colheita which we later compared with a 1995 but it seems I'd put my phone away by then. I had to ask G exactly what a Colheita is, and he told me it's a single vintage-dated tawny port. Not something I would have guessed from the colour!

The 1997 reminded me of dark chocolate-covered raisins and had a lovely soft texture with plenty of glycerine. It had a great finish with a hint of liquorice. Apparently it was bottled in 2020, so had seen 23 years in cask. I was favourably impressed. The 1995 had some figs on the nose but was lacking structure on the palate - G referred to it as fortified grape juice. It was very pleasant, but not quite the real deal. They were both from the same vineyard and had a similar time in barrel, so this difference was purely down to vintage variation.

On another evening, we tried the 1974 Colheito versus the 1992. Again, both had been bottled in 2020. The 1974 was a mahogany colour, and reminded me of panforte on the nose, with nuts and dried fruit, and maybe a little bit of chocolate. G got sultanas. It was silky smooth on the palate. "Oh, that's delicious" said a certain person. It was really complex and had all come together very nicely, with almonds, brazil nuts, prunes and figs. Apparently 1974 was a terrible year for port, so they did very well here. 

The 1992 was a similar colour, but had a more subdued nose with a whiff of varnish. It was perhaps sweeter and more obvious, with notes of toffee, caramel and dried orange peel. A comparison was drawn between dark Lindt almond chocolate for the '74 and Curly-Wurly for the '92. They both have their place...

It appears from my notes that G got carried away and we also tried the 2005 on the same evening. Notes were becoming sparse by this stage, but the overall impression was that it was pleasant but lacking in complexity, and possibly a bit young. 

Here we have a pair of LBVs from 2014 and 2015. The 2014 had dried fruit, particularly prunes, and seemed young. The alcohol was a little harsh and not very well-integrated, perhaps because it had only had six years in barrel.

The 2015 was significantly darker and had a more subtle nose - G described it as dumb. For me, it was more balanced, softer and more mellow. It was young, fruity and exuberant and reminded me of the young ports we've had from Niepoort. 

We also tried this 2007 Colheita, which had dried apricots, prunes and glace cherries on the nose. On the palate it had notes of orange and chocolate and I thought it was pretty good. My only criticism was a slight alcoholic burn on the finish. 

Here we have a pair of white ports, the 1981 versus the "Very Old". There was quite a marked difference in colour as can be seen from the photo. Their appearance reminded me of elderly Sercial. The 1981 had a delicious nose of sultanas and a very gloopy texture. It was congruent and perhaps a little bit fleshy. G detected marrons glaces on the finish. I thought it was pleasurable in an obvious way. I'm not sure I'd have realised it was port if I'd been tasting it blind, and would probably have thought it was a sherry.

The "Very Old" was fascinating. G told me that it was from 1970. It wasn't as sweet as the 1981 and had more complexity. I got orange and dark chocolate and also some herbaceous notes, possibly menthol or ginger. This really was astonishing stuff. I don't think it's available in bottle, so it was an absolute treat to get to taste it. 

We had a couple of other ports in recent weeks. I failed to take a pic of the 20 year old Taylors tawny bottled in 1982. This was the colour of gravy. On the nose, G got spruce varnish while I got some heady sweet notes that reminded me of icing sugar or possibly candied nuts. Not unpleasant. On the palate, it delivered a massive frontal hit (G's phrase) and had a spicy finish, with some heat as it went down. It was very disjointed. We weren't sure we would identify it as port blind. "Fucked up but oddly good with chocolate gingers" was the verdict. My take home point was that tawny port doesn't benefit from time in bottle. 

And finally, we had this Niepoort Crusted port bottled in 2014. G informed me that a crusted port is a non-vintage bottled relatively young, which forms a sediment. This was like alcholic Ribena. It was very winey, typical of Niepoort, with a freshness and charm which made for easy drinking. I was pleased to discover that G got it for a remarkably low price.

Thanks very much to G for giving me the chance to try all of the above - I feel like I learned a lot!

Recent reds

Now time to look at the reds which we drank in March, in ascending order of seriousness. 

My Eaux-Vives from la Maison Romane appeared at long last. I'm pretty sure this is from 2014 although we struggled to find the vintage on the bottle. It claims to be only 12% like most of Oronce's wines (hmmm). I find this one fascinating in a weird way. It's one of those low sulphur gamays with a certain feral quality and a hint of farmyard, like the ones from Chapuis and Maison en Belles Lies. The fruit profile is not standard and made me think of weird Scandinavian red berries - possibly the Nordic crowberry - or maybe sour cherries or lingonberries. Not a serious wine and probably wouldn't appeal to everyone, but I like it and I think G does too. 

And now a bunch of premier crus, as G has been reigniting the Premier Cru Project and has taken over my rather garish colour-coded spreadsheet on the subject. Here we have a Savigny les Beaune 1er cru  "Les Peuillets" 2014 from Domaine Guyon, who are based in Vosne Romanee. This was decanted for two hours. I found the nose promising with red berries and icing sugar, and some not-unpleasant volatile acidity. We finally settled on wine gums as the prevailing note. On the palate it had a silky texture and was richer and fuller than expected, but I found a sharp, bitter note on the finish. Overall we gave it an 8. We thought this was like Savigny made in the style of Vosne, and since to be honest neither of us is a massive fan of Savigny as a village (although weirdly we did have two early 10 pointers from there) this was more to our liking than I thought it might be.  

Here we have a Morey-St-Denis 1er cru la Riotte 2014 from Domaine Taupenot-Merme. This was decanted for the best part of four hours. It was a relatively light colour with a pale rim, and glossy with nice legs. Expectations were high and it had beautiful rich, sweet fruit, reminding me of tinned or baked strawberries. However the finish was a bit weird and we felt it wasn't altogether joined-up. G found black tea on the back palate. Some quick research showed that others thought it needed a further three years. We gave it an 8 but thought that it had the potential to become a 9 in time. It also went noticeably better with food, as this eliminated the problematic tannin thing. G informed me that MSD is his new favourite village, so I'd be all in favour of him getting some more and hanging onto it for a bit to see what happens. 

Next we have this Nuits-St-Georges 1er cru Aux Argillas 2012 from Domaine Jean Chauvenet. This was decanted for 3.5 hours. It was glossy in appearance with an attractive rich nose. On the palate, it was quite ripe with considerable tannin and black fruits, along with a certain earthy quality. Rugged, yet attractive. Tom Hardy was mentioned. Given that I don't always particularly enjoy NSG, it was a pleasant surprise. We felt it was just about ready but at the beginning of its window and would last a further 10 years, so no rush on the 2012s. We gave a it a high 8 but felt it had the potential to go higher.

An old favourite here - Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru les Morgeots 2010 from Domaine de la Choupette. This was dark and glossy with a sweet, enticing nose. It had lots of lovely sunny fruit - strawberry tart and blackcurrant. It was congruent, mouthwatering, rich and delicious. "Absolutely gorgeous" said G and it reminded me why I love red Chassagne so much. It went very well with venison fillet, and we think it will last another 3-4 years but I doubt it will get the chance. We gave it a high 9. Wonderful stuff, so happy I bought it back in the day. 

And finally, we had this Vosne-Romanee 1er cru Aux Brulees 2013 from Domaine Michel Gros back at the start of the month. What a treat. I have fond memories of the Clos de Reas from the same domaine so expectations were high. It looked absolutely beautiful and had a very attractive nose of red fruits. I suggested summer fruit compote while G put the case for summer tart. There was definitely a lot of raspberry going on. It was flowing and silky, medium weight, with a wonderful finish. G made a comment that it did a little dance on the palate, like a gavotte. Not a wine to guzzle, as there was a lot to unpack and it demanded attention. We thought it was drinking now but that it would be good for another ten years, and toyed with giving it a 10 but in the end settled for a high 9. A pleasure to drink. 

The weather is improving and I have a self-indulgent random day off today, lured by the prospect of a boozy lunch in someone's garden. Things are looking up! 

Recent whites

Just squeaking in before the month end with a report on March drinking. Today I'll be looking back on the white wines that G and I have had this month, five of which were from Burgundy, one from Champagne and one from Bordeaux. 

In ascending order of seriousness, first up is this Bourgogne Cote Chalonnaise from 2017 from Les Champs de Themis, a domaine based in Bouzeron. This was good, honest, well-balanced white burg. Quite fresh, sharp enough to go well with Thai crab cakes, yet not tooth-rattlingly acidic. We felt it didn't need any more time. A useful addition to G's cellar. 

A few days later we had this Bourgogne Blanc 2014 from Domaine de la Roseraie. This was a nice pale gold colour and had a hint of white flowers on the nose. On the palate, it was deft, with a certain saline quality. An enjoyable aperitif.

Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume from Domaine Nathalie & Gilles Fevre is an old friend and I recently got one of my two six packs of the 2013 delivered. We detected white flowers, apricots and stone fruit. For me, it wasn't flinty but quite full with a bracing finish. We thought it was very successful and gave it a 9 on the premier cru scale. It was remarkable value for money, coming in at about £23 a bottle excluding storage costs over the years. It was ready now but I feel there's no particular rush to get the second half case out. 

This Rully 1er cru Molesme 2017 from Jean-Baptiste Ponsot was the second of two premier cru Rullys which G bought recently - I reported on the first in the previous post. This one had a fresh, brisk nose with a hint of mushroom which reminded us of Puligny, but on the palate it was richer than the previous Rully and more like a Meursault. We gave it a high 8 and it went very well with some Perard soupe de poissons. Altogether now: Ne bouillez pas!

Last night we had a bottle of Puligny-Montrachet Tremblots 2015 from Domaine Joly. I'd like to think I would definitely recognise it as Puligny if I tasted it blind, as the nose is very classic. On the palate G detected lime blossom while I got beeswax and a hint of honey. It improved as time went on and developed a petrol quality reminiscent of Riesling. We had it with a crab salad and both of us used the phrase "a real pleasure to drink" at different points during the evening. It's perfect now, and I imagine the rest will be polished off in the next 6 months or so. 

Moving out of Burgundy, G produced this "Les Vignes D'Autrefois" 2013 champagne from Laherte Freres the other night, which is 100% pinot meunier. I found the nose quite yeasty while it reminded G of sherbert lemon. It was almost frothy with bubbles. There was considerable acidity and I got some grapefruit on the finish. Very interesting and a good aperitif.

And finally, the other night we had this Chateau Malartic Lagraviere 2012 white Bordeaux. This was a wonderful golden colour and as someone who doesn't drink a lot of this kind of thing, I really enjoyed it. It had honey, pears and maybe lychees going on, and had great balance and a nice weight. It was serious stuff, exuding quality. Unfortunately it has a price tag to match. Still, a useful reminder that I like white Bordeaux. 

Thanks to G for providing or sharing the above with me. Our occasional dinners together have been one of the few enjoyable things during this interminable lockdown. One is very grateful for a decent cellar at the moment!

Magnums and more

Second blog post in a month shocker! I'm now trying harder to make sure I have a notebook to hand when drinking the good stuff. 

A couple of weeks ago we opened this magnum of Auxey Duresses 2005 from Michel Prunier, which had been lying in my wardrobe for a very long time. I bought several of these and last drank it in 2013 - we decided to give the others some time to come round. Our view was that it is now drinking. It was on the rustic side, old school Burgundy. It reminded G of wines from Doudet-Naudin, and if you told me it was from the 1960s I'd have believed you. I think a couple more of these are residing in Middle England somewhere so it may be one to run by the SPNS in due course... 

A few nights later we had this Savigny les Beaune 1er cru Les Marconnets 2015 from Domaine de la Vougeraie. This was an attractive glossy ruby colour. It had black fruit on the nose, not a typical Savigny nose. It seemed quite big to me but G detected a certain stemmy quality. This went away when we drank it with the lamb tagine and our view was that improved over time. I wondered if it was a bit young, but for me it was lacking in fruit and I'm not sure it would ever really improve. We gave it a 7 on the premier cru scale so a little disappointing to be honest. 

Things improved when G wheeled out this half bottle of Gould Campbell 1980. He has shared a lot of port with me over the past few months which I've enjoyed very much but failed to report on. This was very interesting with fig on the nose, panforte and even milk chocolate - very high quality milk chocolate, G said. The texture was wonderful, lots of glycerine, and there was a hint of Turkish Delight on the finish. It needed no more time and was now a "pop and pour". 

Last weekend we were extremely decadent and ordered a takeaway from Otto's which I have written about before here. To begin with, we drank this Rully 1er cru Montpalais 2016 from Jean-Baptiste Ponsot. This was a beautiful golden colour and had a very attractive nose of unwaxed lemons. It was rounded and creamy in the mouth with a burst of acidity at the end, almost salty. We thought it would be excellent with fish and chips. G declared that marginal villages make great wine in hot vintages, something to bear in mind for future reference. We gave this a 9.

The first course of the very complicated Otto's offering was brioche with duck liver on the left and morels in a sauce on the right. The toaster was brought down from its place above the kitchen cabinets and dusted off for the occasion, and fortunately G alerted me to the fact that the brioche would toast very quickly and we timed it to perfection. The duck liver may be the most delicious thing I've ever eaten, and I plan to attempt to replicate it in the near future - we think port, brandy and butter were all involved. It's hard to believe Otto's doesn't have a Michelin star.

The second course involved duck breast, the famous sauce and some pommes souffles - a miserly portion as we were splitting it over 2 days.

The intention was to have this Beaune 1er cru Cent-Vignes 2005 from Albert Morot alongside. Like the Auxey discussed above, I'd come to realise that 2005 is taking forever to come round, so this had been stashed away in the come-back-to-it-later branch of the cellar. What can I say. It would certainly have been undrinkable young. It reeked to high heaven with famyard aromas and sousbois and there was something weirdly pungent about it. G charitably looked for positives but even he was eventually defeated and agreed it was getting worse with time, so down the sink it went. We gave it a 5 on the premier cru project scale, a disappointing result, as I did enjoy some of the wines from this domaine when I visited it in 2007. 

Next, we opened my last bottle of Santenay Comme Dessus 2010 from Domaine de la Choupette, but something wasn't quite right about it either - it had a stemmy quality reminding me of bad cabernet franc, and a bitter finish. I'm pretty familiar with this wine and it's usually very pleasurable, so something wasn't right. Down the sink it went. 

The pressure was on! Fortunately a bottle of Audiffred Bourgogne Rouge 2016 was on form with the usual exotic fruits on the nose, and went down very well. 

The following night, we had this Beaune 1er cru Greves 2013 from Domaine de la Vougeraie. This was more typical Beaune, medium weight, supple and elegant with nice acidity and complexity. It went very well with the remains of the duck, although I wondered if a big Cote de Nuits red might have gone even better. The nose took a while to open up, and after 2 hours in the decanter it brightened up with notes of black fruit, red fruit and clafoutis. It had a burst of sweetness at the end. Originally we gave it a medium 8 but it was upgraded to a high 8 as time went on. 

Finally, I've been drinking this magnum of Beaujolais Villages 2016 from Maison en Belles Lies for the past few days - not really the ideal size for solitary lockdown drinking but what's a girl to do. It has lots of fruit and is very gluggable, and it's been reminding me of the Coteaux Bourguigons from Romain Chapuis with its slightly feral quality. High praise indeed as that's one of my favourite wines. 

And so on we go... at least there are daffodils outside, the magnolia trees have their buds and I'm looking forward to resuming tastings and dinners soon!

Recent drinking round-up!

AduV is still alive! Just haven't been feeling much of an urge to write a cheery blog at the moment with everything that's been going on. But there's light at the end of the tunnel and some interesting booze has been going down. 

This will be a mostly pictorial report as I haven't been making detailed notes on the whole, with one notable exception below. 

In order of aperitif to post-prandial:

I randomly ordered this Cornish Pastis along with a rum order from BBR. I quite enjoyed it! It wasn't too sweet and G compared it to an ouzo rather than a pastis. It brought back happy memories of sitting outside at a bistrot in Lyon...

White Musar 2012.

This Bourgogne Rouge from Domaine de la Roseraie has been going down well - very accomplished stuff. 

What a treat! A half of 1996 Musar. For me, this was getting to the end of its drinking window. G noticed a lot of volatile acidity, and there was definitely a lot of brett. But it was a pleasure to drink and reminded us how much we like Musar.

The last of my red Meursault 1er cru Cras 2009 from Latour-Labille. What lovely stuff this has been. Reminiscent of a very good Volnay or I might even have thought it was Cote de Nuits with its black fruits. 

I think this was also the last of the Vosne Romanee Champs Perdrix 2010 from Audiffred, which has also been a complete delight and I'm delighted that I have three more vintages in my cellar!

A highlight just before New Year - G splashed out on this 2015 Auxey-Duresses from Coche-Dury. One of my desert island wines, the bottle has gone into the hall of fame on top of the kitchen cabinets. This had a heady, sweet nose of poached cherry - clafoutis or even Bakewell tart. "The fragrance arising from warm fruit" pronounced G. On the palate, it had a velvety texture and was sensual, rich and harmonious with a very long finish. It was bursting with flavour and certainly drinking now but we thought it would keep. Sweet berry compote heading towards summer pudding. A real treat and thanks to G for spoiling me. 

This half of Warre's 1983 wasn't too shabby either! I failed to make notes but do recall that for me it was on the drier side and quite fascinating - not as much fruitcake and dried fruit as some ports, but some interesting darker flavours like leather, tobacco and chocolate. I enjoyed it very much.

I plan to get some more wines out of storage fairly soon and look forward to seeing how they have been getting on... watch this space!

2020 almost over

And so we approach the end of the year, and thank god for that!

I have some good news to report - D made it over for a few days in early December at long last. We holed up in Cornwall in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere with a log fire, and generally had a lovely time. It was perfect timing between lockdowns and am currently back at AduV Towers where I have spent my first solitary Christmas. Fortunately G was around beforehand to assist with dispatching some items on our wine racks.   

This Chassagne-Montrachet 1er cru Morgeot 2013 from Domaine de la Choupette was the platonic ideal of Chassagne. It was a beautiful pale straw colour and very well-balanced and harmonious with a lovely weight. G detected white stone fruit while for me it was citrussy all the way through. It had been carefully selected by G in a year that was "a little unfocused" for whites.

And it went very well with Bradenham ham and parmesan crisps!

I'd decided it was time to put this Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru 2011 from Domaine Odoul-Coquard out of its misery and we had high expectations. We weren't disappointed! It was wonderfully dark and glossy and initially we were reminded of black forest gateau but then amended it to sachertorte, although there was certainly some black cherry action. Rich and powerful with fabulous ripe fruit, it did the business and reminded us how much we loved the 2011s. 

I'd made it over to the Ginger Pig and La Fromagerie, and was quite proud of my cheeseboard consisting of Beaufort, Stitchelton and a crottin, to which G added some other evil goaty thing as he likes to do. (Still no sign of the Odyssey de Chevre companion blog...)

With it being the festive season, a half of Suduiraut 2001 seemed appropriate. There was some issue with a crumbly cork which led to G decanting it into a claret glass, which showed off its colour very nicely. It was absolutely lovely, with a massive amount of botrytis. I said something about apricot jam which G corrected to Elvas apricot jam, and it had wonderful glycerin and a peach note on the finish. It went much better with amaretti morbidi than it did with the cheese. We had a debate about whether it's on its plateau yet or not. G thinks it will improve so I mustn't rush to drink the rest.

We finished off with a Battle of the Elderly Spirits! 

G brought along this Vieux Calvados Domfrontais 1972.

While a few weeks ago, I procured this Caroni 1997 rum from BBR.

It was quite amusing to see how similar in colour they were, but on the nose there was no trouble telling which was which. The Calva was fragrant with notes of pear - G informed me that it's actually made from 2/3 pear and 1/3 apple, which either I never knew or had forgotten. I found it quite fiery and quite dry, and wouldn't have guessed that it was almost 50 years old. 

The Caroni is quite fascinating. At 60.4% alcohol it certainly needs to be cut with water, and on the nose it has some rubber tyre and a strong liquorice thing going on. I've been enjoying it but it was very pricey and not something I'll be rushing to buy again. Still have over half a bottle left, which is almost a whole bottle once water is added. And no regrets - this year has been so miserable that a few self-indulgences were in order.

Wishing everyone a happy New Year and hoping that all our lives get back to normal asap in 2021!

Rum diary

Oh dear, it's been a long time since my previous entry. Hope everyone is doing ok. It's been an unsettling time at AduV Towers. 

I had formulated careful plans for my lovely American fiancee to visit me in the UK this week which wouldn't have been easy, with the complicated and inhumane quarantine rules, but I'd found a way of doing it which I considered reasonable and legitimate. Then the second lockdown was announced in the most incompetent way imaginable and all my careful plans had to be cancelled. I'm now hoping she can come over in December but the way this government behaves makes it very difficult to predict what might happen. At least there are now vaccines on the horizon and the prospect of a return to some kind of normality next year. 

In the first lockdown, instead of learning how to bake sourdough bread and/or reading War and Peace, I taught myself how to play poker. I've wanted to learn this for a long time and consider it a useful addition to my skill set. In the second lockdown, some more adult education: I'm learning about rum. 

I'd been feeling irritated for a while that decent bourbon in the UK is so expensive. My house bourbon was alternating between Bulleit and Eagle Rare depending on which one was on special offer, and I enjoy them both, but then I went and spoiled myself with things like Koval and the Big B and it's hard to go back. 

I was reminded of rum by this wine label which G gave me a long time ago and it brought to mind the question why did I not have something suitable for it to be decorating? Clearly this sad state of affairs needed to be rectified immediately. G told me that he'd recently had some BBR Jamaican 14 year old rum and had been impressed. Apparently BBR had (maybe still have? not sure) some guy who went round the distilleries and picked the good stuff. Admittedly I haven't explored the world of the major rum producers (yet...) but I get the impression that the BBR bottlings are quite a steal. 

I whizzed onto the Whisky Exchange website as I needed to buy some Stoli Vanil for a certain beloved person who at the time I thought would be visiting me soon. I know everyone thinks it's hilarious that I'm about to get married to a woman whose drink of choice is vanilla vodka and Diet Coke but I only see positives in this! She does also drink margaritas, mojitos and Amaretto and ginger beer, so we'll establish a comprehensive cocktail cabinet when I move over there.

It turned out that if I bought the Nicaraguan 13 year old, as opposed to the Jamaican 14 year old, for a whole extra pound more, I would meet the much sought after threshold of free delivery. Incidentally, the offerings on BBR's own site and those at the Whisky Exchange overlap but have some differences. 

The Nicaraguan 13 year old costs £76.95 and I consider it well worth it. Caramel and toffee on the nose, creamy with a very spicy, hot finish - hot in the culinary sense. Ginger. A hint of dried tropical fruit. I wonder if I might think it was a bourbon if I didn't know it was a rum, and so we're back to G's theory that certain spirits trend towards the same flavour profiles after a period of time. This is especially delicious with some Lindt Excellence of the dark sea salt variety. 

Having whetted my appetite, I subsequently indulged in further items from the range. 

Barbados 13 year old. £86.95 from the Whisky Exchange (as opposed to £95 from BBR). A little more restrained on the nose, perhaps even floral. Definitely drier on the palate, more subtle. Complex and sophisticated. Again, creamy flavours and glace cherry. Harmonious. From Foursquare, which a little bird tells me is a rather good distillery. Not sure its worth £19 more than the Nicaraguan though, to be honest. 

Guyana 14 year old - £90 from BBR. According to their website this is from 2003 so is now actually 17 years old. Interesting to see how pale it is compared to the others. My initial reaction was that it wasn't my cup of tea at all - I found it offputtingly medicinal on the nose. Second time around, I worked out that it's more like a Scotch, and if I approach it that way I can appreciate it more. It has a certain iodiny, herbaceous quality which leads me to suspect that G may like it more than me. On revisiting the BBR website I see that it has received one 2 star review, so clearly I'm not the only one, and it could explain why they still have it. But if you like Highland Scotch, it might be worth a look. 

These rums all come in at 46% but they're a little pricey to be everyday drinkers, so I investigated further and discovered that BBR also do a more basic range. I acquired a bottle of the Nicaraguan from that range at a mere £30. It was perfectly acceptable but frankly not very interesting. I think it would be fine in cocktails, but it wasn't really a "sipping rum".

The Whisky Exchange then tempted me with something called Black Tot at £35 on special offer, generally around the £40 mark elsewhere. Again, it's 46% and I'm getting all the flavours I enjoy - molasses, toasted pineapple, ginger... it's very fruity and aromatic and unmistakably a rum. Compared to the others, it's perhaps a little obvious, but hey it's half the price. It packs a punch, it's enjoyable and doesn't break the bank. I've stocked up!