Description
Nose : Altogether a beautiful fusion of ripe autumnal and tropical fruit notes, oaky hints of chocolate and vanilla, and spice. Immediate yet incredibly soft, starting deep with Demerara sugar and light touches of juicy fruits (baked apple) above a background note of crushed hazelnut. An attractive top note of lemon or floral heather honey appears, with blackcurrant and bramble to balance the soft malt below. Adding a drop of water allows a chocolate note to come through, the base becoming a combination of rich chocolate and ginger cakes. Nice cigar-box hints of tobacco and cedar round off an extremely well structured and consistent nose.
Palate : Sweet, with a soft, fluid start. Things develop on the chewy mid-palate where the citrus seen on the nose comes through alongside a developing scented spiced note, perhaps of cumin and coriander powder. The mix now is of freshness and some softness, which grows dryer and slightly green, with some toasted coconut. Adding a little water brings the crispness more into focus and rounds the soft spice as it builds among the fruit.
Finish : Sweet at first, with blackcurrant and vanilla then very drying and flinty with notes of cleansing aniseed and later, resin. Finally the sweetness returns in a rousing menthol-fresh conclusion.
