Thick and syrupy Pedro Ximenez sherry, infused with fragrant smoke, oozed over toasted peanuts and red berry fruits on a thick slab of sugary toffee. The palate was a compounded conglomerate of tinned fruit, blood oranges and dried herbs, swirling together in an old coal scuttle and topped with cinnamon, ginger and ash.

Adding water only released further treacle, toffee and honey, still in a dusty old coal scuttle but now with dried flowers and lemon zest. The palate had somewhat softened, however, now embracing peat-smoked flapjacks, dark berry jam and roasted peaches with sprigs of thyme, and the light sweetness of mead on the finish.