Description
After 13 years, this was re-racked from ex-bourbon wood into a first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead. The result is a dry, salty, woody evocation of swashbuckling pirates or Vikings. The nose gave us toffee apples, brown sugar and sticky toffee pudding, marmalade and orange boxes, a pirate’s wooden leg and sea chests, prunes, leather, beach pebbles, dry white wine and sage. On the palate, cinder toffee, caramel and chocolate raisins morphed into plums, dates and quince jam; finishing with a combination of spice and salty dry wood – ginger biscuits, black pepper, chilli chocolate and ‘‘kissing the mermaid figurehead of a sailing ship’’.