Taster

Nose: Chopped spring onions and chives. Freshly baked caramel biscuits. With water, dark chocolate, the smoke of a coal fire, and wood bark.

Palate: Medium-full, with some real heat. Sweetens considerably with water, yielding up black cherry and blackcurrant preserve, pear juice, and burnt wholemeal toast.

Finish: Medium-short. Dries out and leaves a cooling sensation.

Comment: Interesting flavours, but the heat made this one difficult to appraise. I’m sure the high-ABV lovers will like it.

Score: 7.6

Taster

Nose: Peaty and punchy. Plastic plasters (not the fabric ones) and TPC. Toasted sourdough and oily green olive. Hints of pear, peach, and physalis, with apple core. Crêpes cooked with plant-based butter.

Palate: Full-bodied. Herbaceous basil and coriander, then sweet peat. Charred peach and orange. Overripe pear. Subtle green olive. Engine oil, hot rubber, green tea, and vanilla cupcake.

Finish: Medium, slightly ashy. Peach jam and a hint of liquorice, then the plaster note returns.

Comment: Showing heft in both its proof and flavour.

Score: 8.1