After nine years in ex-bourbon wood we put this into a customised 1st fill barrique (70/30 split American/European oak with toasted heads). The resulting nose wowed us with kirsch, dried apricots and dates, prune and Armagnac tart, oloroso, marzipan and dark chocolate. The intensely exotic palate gave retro-nasal wafts of smoking bananas in a Frankincense den, cinder toffee, sirop de Liège and Black Forest gateau.

The reduced nose found pomegranate molasses and PX sherry, gingerbread, eucalyptus and mulling spices, Serrano ham on rye bread, vanilla and cocoa powder. The palate evoked further smoky fruitiness, like brandy butter on Christmas pudding, fig rolls and plum jam; the finish teased us with ginger, tannic oak and camphor.