The clever taste of warehouse witchcraft

The neat nose was aromatically diverse, suggesting peppermint tea, tangy dark fruit chutney, balsamic reduction, herbal toothpaste and treacle tart. Some lovely, well-integrated sherry cask influence was also on display. With water it developed a lovely, broad honey-and-fruit combination, with impressions of fruit salad juices, pineapple rings, jasmine flowers and orange cocktail bitters. The neat palate presented us with notes of young bual madeira, camphor, brown seed bread, Dundee cake and export-strength Irish stout. We also found a surprising meaty zing of roast beef and horseradish. Reduction tempered everything perfectly, providing a wonderfully honeyed profile with pitch-perfect wood spices, dried flowers, honeycomb, pine wood and exotic fruit teas. This was matured in a second fill barrel for 10 years before being transferred to a second fill, Spanish oak, oloroso hogshead.