Reece Reid
May 25, 2026, 21:51:45
Crikey. Deep gold colour, proper old-school. Sniff it and you’re straight into a dried fruit avalanche — raisins, apricots, prunes, figs, dried quinces, dates, all drenched in heather honey and thick-cut orange marmalade. Then it gets darker: Ovaltine, bitter chocolate, espresso, roasted nuts, and this wonderful meaty chocolate and malt thing, like good gravy or beef stock just off the roast. Behind that there’s a strange forest floor moment — pinesap, pine cones, thuja wood, a whiff of wormwood and camphor, almost medicinal. Herbal teas everywhere: mint, parsley, thyme, gentian, verbena. And yep, a faint edge of gunpowder, not full-on, just bordering, like spent fireworks in damp air. A little smoke, more black Cuban cigars than peat. It keeps switching gears. Bitter orange, kumquats, Aperol, then back to sticky jams and heather honey. There’s a savoury nod too, cured Jabugo ham and that mineral touch, like seaside pine forests — Corinthian currents, maybe? Camphor-ginger duo with turmeric and bitter chocolate on the long finish. Pre-2000, an old 10 CS, wider spectrum than most. Memories of waiting for the mid-90s to kick in. Just perfect. Not much of a contest. Takes ages to recover from this. People want this depth. Circa 1995 in a glass. 🍂🥃
