Sourcing Request: LOUIS XIII - Rare Cask | 42.1
Status: In Progress
Requested For: Founding Member
Category: Rare Cognac
Maison: LOUIS XIII by Rémy Martin
Region: Grande Champagne, Cognac, France
Expression: Rare Cask 42.1
ABV: 42.1%
Release: Rare Cask
Cask Type: Single tierçon
Decanter: Black crystal, crafted by Baccarat
Availability: Extremely restricted global allocation
Decanters Released: Just over 775 worldwide
Some sourcing requests are defined by scarcity. Others are defined by significance.
LOUIS XIII Rare Cask 42.1 is both.
For one of our Founding Members, Cloakroom Reserve was engaged to source one of the most elusive expressions ever released by LOUIS XIII: Rare Cask 42.1, a singular Cognac drawn from one exceptional tierçon and presented in a black crystal decanter crafted by Baccarat.
This is not a limited edition in the usual sense. It is not a variation created to meet demand, nor a scheduled release designed around a calendar. A Rare Cask appears only when nature, time and the judgement of the Cellar Master converge in a way that cannot be predicted.
That is what makes Rare Cask 42.1 so compelling.
It is not simply rare because few decanters exist. It is rare because the liquid itself should almost not exist at all.
The Rare Cask
LOUIS XIII Rare Cask 42.1 was unveiled in March 2023, ten years after the previous Rare Cask release. It is only the third Rare Cask expression in the history of LOUIS XIII.
The name is taken from the Cognac’s natural alcoholic strength: 42.1%. That detail is important. Rare Cask is not named for a vintage, an anniversary or a marketing theme. It is named for the quiet, unexpected signature of the liquid itself.
Inside the cellars of LOUIS XIII, the Cellar Master monitors tierçons that may hold eaux-de-vie destined for future generations. Most will eventually become part of the extraordinary composition of LOUIS XIII. Very few will reveal something so singular that they can stand apart.
Rare Cask 42.1 came from one such tierçon.
A tierçon is a traditional, thin-staved French oak cask used in the long ageing of LOUIS XIII Cognac. These casks are central to the maison’s identity, allowing the eaux-de-vie to mature slowly over decades. In the case of Rare Cask 42.1, one tierçon developed an aromatic profile considered so exceptional that it was bottled alone.
That distinction is everything.
LOUIS XIII is usually a composition of many eaux-de-vie. Rare Cask is the moment one cask speaks with such authority that blending becomes unnecessary.
A Century in Motion
To understand Rare Cask 42.1, one must first understand LOUIS XIII.
LOUIS XIII is often described as “a century in a decanter”, and for good reason. Its eaux-de-vie may be aged across many decades, with some resting for up to 100 years before forming part of the final blend. This means that no single Cellar Master owns the creation of LOUIS XIII. Each is a guardian, inheriting decisions made by predecessors and making selections for successors who may not yet be born.
That generational rhythm is at the heart of the house.
The Cellar Master of today is not only blending for the present. They are setting aside the finest eaux-de-vie for a future they may never taste. A decision made now may shape a decanter released in 50, 70 or 100 years.
This is a form of stewardship rarely found in luxury. It requires patience beyond a career, beyond fashion, beyond the lifetime of any one individual.
Rare Cask 42.1 is therefore not merely an object of rarity. It is the result of a century-long chain of human judgement, cellar conditions, Grande Champagne terroir and time.
Grande Champagne: The Premier Cru of Cognac
LOUIS XIII is drawn exclusively from Grande Champagne, the premier cru of Cognac. This region is prized for its chalk-rich soils, which contribute to eaux-de-vie of remarkable finesse, length and ageing potential.
The raw material begins humbly: grapes, wine, distillation, oak. Yet in Grande Champagne, the finest eaux-de-vie can evolve over decades into something layered, precise and deeply aromatic.
That capacity for long ageing is essential to LOUIS XIII. Without it, the maison’s time horizon would not be possible. The Cognac must have enough structure to endure, enough delicacy to remain elegant, and enough aromatic depth to continue revealing itself as the decades pass.
Rare Cask 42.1 carries this philosophy to its most extreme expression.
It is Grande Champagne through the lens of one extraordinary tierçon.
Rémy Martin and the Birth of LOUIS XIII
The House of Rémy Martin was founded in 1724, but the story of LOUIS XIII as we know it began in the 19th century.
In 1874, Paul-Émile Rémy Martin created a Cognac of exceptional refinement, composed from the finest Grande Champagne eaux-de-vie held by the house. It was presented in a decanter inspired by a 16th-century metal flask discovered on the site of the Battle of Jarnac.
The name LOUIS XIII pays tribute to the French king who recognised Cognac as an eau-de-vie worthy of protection and distinction. Since then, LOUIS XIII has become one of the world’s most recognisable symbols of French luxury, served at significant diplomatic, royal and cultural moments.
But beyond the theatre and ceremony, its true value lies in continuity.
The profile of LOUIS XIII is not recreated from a recipe alone. It is preserved through memory, training and succession. Each generation of Cellar Master must understand not only what LOUIS XIII is today, but what it must become decades from now.
Rare Cask 42.1 sits inside that lineage, yet apart from it.
It is recognisably LOUIS XIII, but expressed through a single, unrepeatable cask.
The Cellar Master: Baptiste Loiseau
The discovery of Rare Cask 42.1 belongs to Baptiste Loiseau, Cellar Master of LOUIS XIII.
His role is one of the most demanding in spirits. The Cellar Master must evaluate eaux-de-vie not simply for how they taste now, but for what they may become over the next century. It is a discipline of patience, intuition and technical mastery.
In the case of Rare Cask 42.1, Loiseau identified a tierçon with an aromatic profile unlike the others. Its strength, structure and personality set it apart. Rather than fold it into the wider composition of LOUIS XIII, the decision was made to present it as Rare Cask.
This is what makes the Rare Cask series so fascinating.
It is not an exercise in selection alone. It is an act of restraint. The Cellar Master must recognise when a single tierçon has become complete in itself.
Baccarat Black Crystal
The liquid is housed in one of the most striking decanters ever created for LOUIS XIII.
Rare Cask 42.1 is presented in black crystal crafted by Baccarat. The darkness of the decanter is not merely decorative. It gives the release a sense of secrecy, gravity and ceremony. Where the classic LOUIS XIII decanter reveals the Cognac’s amber brilliance, Rare Cask 42.1 conceals before it reveals.
That feels appropriate.
This is a Cognac born in darkness: in quiet cellars, in ancient oak, across decades of evaporation, concentration and transformation. The black crystal becomes part of the story. It protects the mystery of the liquid inside while signalling that this is not an ordinary expression.
Each decanter is an object of craft in its own right. Crystal, metal, glass, liquid and time all converge into a single presentation.
For collectors, that matters. Rare Cask 42.1 is not only acquired as a bottle. It is acquired as a complete work: Cognac, vessel, provenance and ritual.
Why This Bottle Matters
LOUIS XIII Rare Cask 42.1 matters because it sits at the edge of what luxury spirits can be.
It is scarce, but scarcity alone is not the point. Many bottles are scarce. Few are the result of a century-long maturation philosophy, a single exceptional tierçon, and a house willing to release something only when nature permits it.
Only just over 775 decanters were released worldwide. For a global clientele of collectors, private clients, maisons, luxury hotels and serious Cognac devotees, that number is extraordinarily small.
But the deeper rarity is structural.
Rare Cask cannot simply be reproduced. Another tierçon may be discovered in the future. It may carry a different strength, a different aromatic profile, a different personality. But Rare Cask 42.1 itself is finite. Once the decanters are placed, the release is absorbed into private cellars and collections around the world.
For our Founding Member, the acquisition represents more than ownership. It is a placement of one of the most important modern Cognac releases into a private Australian collection.
That is exactly the kind of work Cloakroom Reserve was created to undertake.
The Cloakroom Reserve Approach
Sourcing a bottle such as LOUIS XIII Rare Cask 42.1 requires more than access. It requires discretion, timing and an understanding of how these pieces move.
At this level, rarity does not always sit in public view. The most important bottles are often already spoken for before they are seen by the wider market. They move through trusted relationships, private client networks and carefully managed allocations.
Our role is to navigate that environment on behalf of the member.
For Rare Cask 42.1, we considered provenance, allocation pathway, condition, client suitability, long-term collection value and the broader meaning of the bottle within the member’s existing cellar. With ultra-rare Cognac, these considerations are not peripheral. They are central to the acquisition.
A bottle of this calibre must not simply be found.
It must be placed correctly.
Closing Note
LOUIS XIII Rare Cask 42.1 is a reminder that true rarity is rarely loud.
It does not need to announce itself through excess. Its power lies in patience, in inheritance, in the quiet authority of a single tierçon that waited for the right moment to be recognised.
A century of ageing.
A single cask.
Just over 775 decanters.
One Founding Member placement.
For Cloakroom Reserve, this sourcing request represents the essence of private client work: the ability to secure pieces that are not merely expensive, but exceptional.
Not every bottle belongs in public view.
Not every release can be repeated.
Some objects are the result of time behaving unusually.
This is one of them.