- Nose
- Initial entry presents a brutal and robust nose which is filled with malt, grist, alcohol and a hint of stewed pears. With time, the nose softens somewhat to reveal boiled sweets, orange peel, caramel, pear juice and some oak. Cocoa powder and wax emerge later on to accentuate the nose. Crisp sea salt, strongly mineral, almost industrial. Green fruit – crabapples, white grapes, banana peels, lime, and melon. Woody and herbal, licorice, wet mosses and grass. As it continues to rest in the glass, floral flavours emerge: cardamom and cherry blossoms. Snuffed candle, molasses, digestive biscuits, light peat, earthy, barnyard, fresh pepper and citrus peel. Green and vegetal with a garden sweetness and subtle mustard leaf spice; crispy salted lemon rind, mellow earth and wood with mulch and potting soil; tomato leaf, pepper, and more subtle notions of parma ham and melon rind.
- Palate
- Big, brutal and yet paradoxically elegant. Malty and gristy in equal measure, with barley sugar, oak, cinnamon and nutmeg very much in control. With time, beeswax, malt candy, apricots, pears and pear juice emerge alongside some sage and thyme notes. Orange rind and caramel figure late on. Medium-thick texture. Arrives with tart and sweet citrus and orchard fruit, then into blisteringly dry chalk and salt. The development continues to savoury wood, paraffin wax, rock powder, charcoal, and lemon meringue. Rather nutty and earthy on the back end – almonds, walnuts, fired clay. Hot, wax, molasses, a touch of sulfur. Grapefruit, orange, and vanilla. Sharp spice, almost like wasabi. Improves with time in the glass and water, bringing out the orange. Medium-bodied and oily, bursting with sweet guava and quince, vegetable garden notions of cucumber and mustard leaf; honey comb, woody mulch, and more subdued earth; white pepper and a gentle meatiness toward the end.
- Finish
- Long and lingering with the wood spices, wax and fruits intermingling beautifully with the malty and gristy notes. Medium-long, still very mineral but juicier here. Lime candies, grapefruit peels, Granny Smiths. Hot desert stones. Anise and white pepper. With water, a variety of greenery, citronella, grass, and succulents. Very grapefruity. Not too woody. Malty and waxy. More citrus and some vanilla. Whipped cream. More mild earth and barnyard, and that wasabi. Long and lingering with pepper, subtle fruit, and mellow earthiness.
