Coffee and cake

We followed our noses to the local café, ordering a cup of coffee, a slice of madeira cake drizzled with clove-infused toffee sauce and toasted ciabatta loaded with crispy bacon. The palate was as full as the nose suggested, with notes of rye, hibiscus, bubblegum and mango. Water offered barley sugar sweeties on the nose, with orange oil and malt loaf. The palate finished lighter, with white chocolate and pencil shavings, followed by lime and lemon bonbons. After 16 years in an ex-bourbon barrel, we transferred this to a shaved, toasted and re-charred first fill American oak barrique with new toasted heads for the remainder of its maturation.