...Rich tobacco, thick tannic notes, carrot cake and caramelised dark sugar. Once we start digging into that caramel glob we find smoky raisins, sulphuric honey, saffron and paprika before a bed of marzipan, a big difference to the nose that I was not expecting. The mouthfeel is cloying...
..some BBQ sauce. While the signature sulphuric spirit is there, it carries itself well, copper into oak, great tall planks of it toasted and charred around us, some cedar wood and then hints of a light burning incense alongside grapefruit and orange rind. Once the initial hit passes, it’s into the vanilla, with crème brulee, vanilla toffee on gingerbread, and then macadamia...
...popping raspberry bonbons and boiled strawberry sweets into our mouth. In front of us burns a beautiful tiny beach fire, built of seagrass, driftwood, bracken and scrub we’ve pulled on our way down. After staring into the ocean, we turn back to that fire, and toast some soda bread on a metal fork before spreading some thick strawberry jam...
...popped the cork in my wee bottle to pour a measure, and immediately I relaxed. Wafting from the neck came soft notes of fresh pine needles, falling through a highlands forest against spiritedly winter greens, river mint, and dropping onto a cradle of crushed fragrant lavender...
...pouring Manuka honey over the tongue as I ate a spoonful of orange marmalade. Fried mushrooms shone through, dancing over the torn remains of the white roses, now lightly charred by a fire that was roasting the pears. Gooseberries, apples, almonds, vanilla yogurt with spice and berries...
