Christmas fruit cake sherry and sweet bourbon toffee with jammy brandy. Plus a burst of dried sugary fruits. But the bottle shows restraint, it's not an overpowering sherry bomb. It's balanced by the unique bourbon influence with lemon candy, vanilla sponge and an amazing hit of spice. Is that cardamon?

For such a high ABV (57.1%) this is remarkably easy. Incredibly dense in the mouthfeel, flavours of fruitcake return, with oodles of bittersweet dried fruit, malty chocolate and a gentle kitchen cabinet spice.

Incredibly long finish carried by a fig cake-like quality, with a sharp vanilla kick. Given the alcohol content, adding water brings out sharper fruits and brings it to a cranberry chocolate with brown sugar state. Though water is not needed, it's surprisingly delicate and spicy without.