The nose neat immediately suggested sugar-dusted grapefruit, orange barley sugars, cantaloup melon and warm strop leather. In time we got freshly varnished timbers, new sneakers, cream soda and warm heather flowers. With water we found lemon bonbons, Moffat toffee (sweet caramel on the outside with a sharp lemony taste in the centre) and then earthy touches of turmeric, damp tobacco leaf and dried flowers in vase water.

The palate opened with spearmint, pollens and cloudy lemonade. The cask made its voice clear with assertive notes of cask char, cinnamon sugar, vanilla icing and candied citrus peels – rich, sweet and mouth-coating! Water revealed notes of young calvados, dessert wines, spice cake and apple pie.