92: Bhakta Brandy - 50 Year Old Armagnac for Whiskey Lovers

Raj Peter Bhakta, the founder of WhistlePig and now Bhakta Farms, has left the world of rye whiskey and entered into the world of rare Armagnac brandy. Raj just introduced BHAKTA 50, a marriage of Argmanac’s he discovered with Vintages from 1868 - 1970. And he’s gone a step further  and finished it in Islay casks. A complex spirit that is ideal for the curious  whiskey lover. Sweet and smoky but not overly so, this finishing process for 50+ year old Armagnac is unlike anything else.  Raj had us all on our toes for this episode and we were excited to explore something so rare and unique.  And don’t miss the teaser for Raj’s next big project; his whiskey project, called Empire, a “global whiskey” coming out next year (2021).

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The Bourbon Lens

Links:

• BhaktaBrandy.com
• VinePair - Raj Peter Bhakta and Bhakta Brandy 
• Bhakta Farms & Bhakta Spirits
• Bhakta 50 - Barrel 3 Review
• Whiskey Consensus - Bhakta 50 - The Armagnac Secret That Whiskey Drinkers Need to Know About

About:

Raj Peter Bhakta, founder of WhistlePig Whiskey and Bhakta Brandy, has a deep appreciation for rare and exquisite spirits—as well as a knack for bringing them to American attention. His success in rye established the category during a time when the industry overlooked it. Now, with BHAKTA, he is reviving another spirit: ancient Armagnac brandy, bottled stateside in Vermont.

Bhakta is a first generation American. Both of his parents are immigrants. Born in 1975 to a Gujarati father and an Irish mother, he grew up in the Philadelphia area and attended the Hill School in Pottstown, PA before graduating Boston College in 1998. After beginning his career with investment banking firm Violy & Co, Bhakta departed to found Automovia, a valuation tech startup for pre-owned vehicles. He also worked for a time in the family business, leading a condominium development project in Vail, CO.

While in Colorado in 2004, Bhakta scored a role on Trump’s nascent reality show The Apprentice, Season 2. His business prowess and theatrical antics helped him navigate, barter, and flirt to the ninth week before being fired by Trump. His charisma with women became fodder for gossip columns like New York Post’s Page Six, and his frequent wearing of bow ties was credited with a surge in the accessory’s popularity.

In 2006, Bhakta ran for U.S. Congress from Pennsylvania’s 13th district. His campaign gained national notoriety due to his television background and playboy reputation. In October, Bhakta protested US-Mexican border weakness by riding an elephant along the Rio Grande with a 6-man mariachi band. This garnered even more publicity, and by the end of his unsuccessful campaign, Bhakta appeared on MSNBC, CNN’s Crossfire, and Fox News.

After his defeat in 2007, Bhakta moved from Manhattan to seek green fields. He purchased a decrepit Vermont dairy farm and began searching for obscure spirits to market under his new brand WhistlePig. Acquiring stocks from Canadian distiller Alberta Premium, Bhakta partnered with master distiller Dave Pickerel and began bottling his 10-year rye in 2010. Praised nationwide, WhistlePig put rye back on the map and grew to America’s premier luxury whiskey in just a few years. After selling in 2019, Bhakta began a crusade for the world’s finest spirits.

On this journey, Bhakta stumbled on a stock of rare and exquisite Armagnacs in a Gers chateau. Distilled 1868-1970, the portfolio contains enough to bottle blends well over 50 years old. The vintages also predate Armagnac history’s largest crisis, the Great French Wine Blight, which devastated vineyards and changed grape varietals forever. The oldest brandies use only original cultivars, making them perhaps the only genuine Armagnacs left in existence. Bhakta, immediately enamored, negotiated a hefty purchase and brought them back home to Vermont.

With these assets, Bhakta is set to outdo his former ventures. BHAKTA 50 Year Brandy is older than any whiskey available and steeped in generations of small-scale craft. It also gets a unique Islay cask finish: the perfect marriage of brandy and Scotch. Bhakta has even put his own name on the bottle, showing just how proud he is of this magnum opus. BHAKTA offers a singular experience: brandy for the whiskey-lover. Just like he returned rye to the national spotlight, he’s now found a niche new spirit with its own distinct category.

Bhakta Brandy has just launched this 4th of July. Barrel 1 contains vintages 50-152 years old, with more released one-by-one this year. With only 38 total barrels, the $250 price tag seems impossible. As more barrels launch, demand will swiftly outpace his vanishing supply to create a fast-appreciating asset. Recall Bhakta’s BossHog Line and WhistlePig 111, which began at $111 and now sells for upwards of $2,300. For followers of these previous ventures, the upward potential in Bhakta’s liquid investment is easily tenable. The rest will have to taste and find out themselves if his unique brandy is worth the acclaim.

photo credit: Bhakta Farms / Bhakta Spirits