Some Cognac Questions

Lucas61

Lucas61

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Hello All,

Recently, I no longer needed to take medications that prevented me from drinking alcohol for 30 years! Yay! To celebrate I ordered a pewter flask made in Sheffield, England.
I really like the Cognacs and would like to find a small bottle of Remy Martin XO. But that appears to be a "no go." La Sirena has a bottle of VSOP for RD$ 4,000 and Mercado Nacional for RD$ 5,000.

a. First question: My take is that there are no specialty liquor stores in this country. It's what you see: colmados, La Sirena, etc. So is there a best place in Sto. Dom. to buy liquors, specifically Cognacs?
b. How about shipping from the U.S. Is that doable? Any taxation even if less than $200.00.
c. And then there's the fear that I'm going to buy a fake bottle with real methyl alcohol (e.g. blind and dead).
d. I will fly to Berlin in August. Maybe I should buy something at the airport?

Thank you! Prost! Cheers!
 
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El Hijo de Manolo

El Hijo de Manolo

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Lucas61 said:
Hello All,

Recently, I no longer needed to take medications that prevented me from drinking alcohol for 30 years! Yay! To celebrate I ordered a pewter flask made in Sheffield, England.
I really like the Cognacs and would like to find a small bottle of Remy Martin XO. But that appears to be a "no go." La Sirena has a bottle of VSOP for RD$ 4,000 and Mercado Nacional for RD$ 5,000.

a. First question: My take is that there are no specialty liquor stores in this country. It's what you see: colmados, La Sirena, etc. So is there a best place in Sto. Dom. to buy liquors, specifically Cognacs?
b. How about shipping from the U.S. Is that doable? Any taxation even if less than $200.00.
c. And then there's the fear that I'm going to buy a fake bottle with real methyl alcohol (e.g. blind and dead).
d. I will fly to Berlin in August. Maybe I should buy something at the airport?

Thank you! Prost! Cheers!
Click to expand...
Homemade hooch is generally not found in the commercial centers like Sirena, etc it's a thing of colmados for the most part. If you don't drink the Rompe Creta, you will be ok is my guess. In Las Galeras i got a hold of some bad barcelo at a Haitian colmado, but i had had so much booze in my system it really had little effect. You don't strike me as that profile drinker.
 
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Lucas61

Lucas61

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El Hijo de Manolo said:
Homemade hooch is generally not found in the commercial centers like Sirena, etc it's a thing of colmados for the most part. If you don't drink the Rompe Creta, you will be ok is my guess. In Las Galeras i got a hold of some bad barcelo at a Haitian colmado, but i had had so much booze in my system it really had little effect. You don't strike me as that profile drinker.
Click to expand...
Good point: avoid colmados and "Mom and Pop" stores.
 
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johne

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Lucas61 said:
Cognacs are under other < brandy. I do not recognize any of these brands and the low costs make me suspicious. This is a "no go" but thanks.
Click to expand...
The Carenal Mendoza is a TOP brandy known throughout the universe. Therefore there must be a mis connection Mr. Lucas.
 
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SKY

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Lucas61 said:
This is exactly the kind of place I'm looking for! Thank you! As soon as I drain my flask, I'll be catching an Uber and report back about the selection of Cognacs for anyone else who might be interested . . .
Click to expand...
There is a high end kind of roped off area where you will find the expensive Cognacs and other top flight products.........
 
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Lucas61

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bob saunders said:
Really? Those are well known cognac brands. https://www.cognac-expert.com/cognac-brands
Click to expand...
Thanks for that great link on brandies! If you are referring to the website almaceneshatuey.com that another member mentioned, no, these are NOT well-known brands: Brandy de Jerez, Brandy Fortier, Brandy Napoleon Le Cuvier. No wonder some of these bottles are < RD$ 500 each. Not a single recognized brand in the popular section of the site you recommended, such as Hine, is available at the former website, so this former website is a "no go."
 
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Lucas61

Lucas61

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SKY said:
There is a high end kind of roped off area where you will find the expensive Cognacs and other top flight products.........
Click to expand...
Roped off? Cool, now you're talkin' my language. I remember 25+ years ago I would go to a Wally's Liquor on Westwood Blvd. in Westwood, CA. Their Cognacs were in a locked glass cabinet. Some bottles were $1,000 USD and that was a quarter century ago! Me? A small bottle of Remy Martin XO and I'm good to go.
 
bob saunders

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I never referred to brandy and the hatuey site has cognacs starting at around 3500 pesos to 11000. Remy Martin, Hennessy , and Martell.
 
bob saunders

bob saunders

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Lucas61 said:
Thanks for that great link on brandies! If you are referring to the website almaceneshatuey.com that another member mentioned, no, these are NOT well-known brands: Brandy de Jerez, Brandy Fortier, Brandy Napoleon Le Cuvier. No wonder some of these bottles are < RD$ 500 each. Not a single recognized brand in the popular section of the site you recommended, such as Hine, is available at the former website, so this former website is a "no go."
Click to expand...
Learn to navigate the website by typing in cognac, not brandy.
 
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Lucas61

Lucas61

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bob saunders said:
I never referred to brandy and the hatuey site has cognacs starting at around 3500 pesos to 11000. Remy Martin, Hennessy , and Martell.
Click to expand...
Sorry about the confusion. At the Hatuey site, congnacs were not in the drop-down menu but brandies were. Brandy and Cognac are the same thing. Anwyay, for the purpse of this thread, my question is answered. The place to go is LicorMart!
 
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Lucas61

Lucas61

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bob saunders said:
Learn to navigate the website by typing in cognac, not brandy.
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"Learn to navigate" the website? Please, you're out of line. I don't need your snark. When I use the drop-down menu under BEBIDAS and Cognacs do not exist, does that mean I'm an idiot? No, it means that the website doesn't pass muster and . . . good-bye. Give me a break!
 
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SKY

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Brandy is distilled fruit juice, and it can be any kind of fruit juice, while cognac is a specific type of distilled fruit juice with lots of qualifications. Cognac comes from the Cognac region of southwestern France, and is made with a fruit juice base of white grapes. There can be a big difference, and non Cognac region products are NOT Cognac, but Brandy.........
 
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johne

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Really, really sad...this forum board. He asks a question. Gets qualified info in minutes. He says take your info and shove it. I don't get it.
 
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