Le Repaire de Bacchus

Le Repaire de Bacchus

DC Scotch Chick mentioned the excellent whisky selection to be found in Paris wine stores in her initial La Maison Du Whisky post. One of these chains, Le Repaire de Bacchus, had a couple of outposts conveniently located on the way from Maison Landemain to Le Relais Gascon. Of course, the Chix had to drag the Scotch Gents in for a little window shopping. 

Unlike many European countries, where the government has cornered the liquor game and driven the prices to extremes, France seems to be allowing the free market to take a hand. And, despite VAT, the prices really aren't unreasonable. In addition, there seems to be great freedom of choice – Le Relais Gascon had a whisky selection in which any US establishment would have been proud.

The Whisky Selection at Le Repaire de Bacchus

An added bonus is that both stores the Chix visited were staffed by extremely knowledgeable (and extremely attractive) young men willing to take the time to discuss whisky. This made for a very pleasant shopping experience. Consequently, even though the Chix had not planned to buy, they ended up doing so. 

Their choice on this occasion was a selection of whisky by an Independent Bottler that one of the (extremely attractive) young men touted as being produced especially for Le Repaire de Bacchus – Spirit Collection's Natural Color Scotch Whisky. Now, the Scotch Chix have not had great experiences with Independent Bottlers, but since this was a sample pack, and the clerk was so helpful (and extremely attractive), they were willing to give it a try. 

Spirit Collection's Natural Color Scotch Whisky

Unfortunately, it turned out to be pretty mediocre across the board. With the exception of Wild Scotsman Mortlach 13 and the vatted malts out of the guys at Eades, the Scotch Chix have found IB's to be lacking in depth of flavor, and, alas, this selection was no exception.

Still, the whisky ended up coming in handy when best laid plans for purchasing whisky in Amsterdam were thwarted, and one must admit that a good gouda cheese and other market munchie food makes any whisky desirable. Moreover, since the Scotch Chix purchased a sampler pack, the damage to their pocketbooks was limited and a small price to pay to support a very friendly chain of wine stores with awesome whisky selections and very helpful (extremely attractive) clerks.

5 Year Old Gouda Cheese and Other Market Munchie Food