Taster

Nose: Intensely sweet and fresh: apricots, golden syrup, orange jam, with limes. Settles to reveal orchard fruits. Pouring honey with buttermilk. Slightly oaky. Perhaps a bit simple.

Palate: Oily, with plenty of sweetness and spice. Oranges, citrus notes, cloves and ginger. Rich tea biscuits and some lightly toasted notes. Flatter than the nose, despite the ABV.

Finish: Long, oily, and spicy, but the core flavours vanish too quickly.

Comment: Promising nose, but this was a bit of an anticlimax.

Score: 7.8

Taster

Nose: Leather boots and polish. Fields after barley has been harvested, a little farmyard note, hay lofts, horse stalls and creamy goat’s cheese with honey. Old bookshops, cedarwood and bitter Seville marmalade.

Palate: Big. Warming. Hot milk, goat’s cheese and honey. Dunnage warehouses and grape stalks.

Finish: Earthy and rich, very engaging.

Comment: At first this looked like it might have been disappointing, but no… just took a little time to open up and then was huge and flavourful.

Score: 8.6