Tasting Panel Notes

After being served smoked dates wrapped in habanero bacon followed by smoked pistachio baklava – as well as dried apricot, fig and fennel seed flapjacks – we were ready for a drink. We got smoky liquorice root tea, brown sugar-grilled lemonade and a 'penicillin' cocktail of smoky whisky, fresh lemon juice and honey-ginger syrup, garnished with a barbecued lemon slice. After reduction more spices appeared: aniseed, cinnamon, nutmeg and sarsaparilla, plus pimentón dulce (sweet smoked Spanish paprika). On the palate we tucked into yakitori (Japanese grilled chicken skewers) served with a sweet soy sauce. Following 23 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a second fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead.