Nose: Olive tapenade. Salted nuts. Sticky prunes and rum cake. Even butterscotch. A big heaping serving of anise. And the ubiquitous herbal something.

Palate: Dry tannins, big bitter woods reminiscent of a potent quinine tonic, Castelvetrano or Antequera olives. The hint of fruit formerly known as Dr pepper, buried prunes. Herbs and anise. Cracked black pepper and pecorino cheese.

Rating: 5 / 10 – The nose is great. I tried letting this sit for an hour on Borger’s recommendation. But apparently, the Charron cube will not assimilate me. Move along Borg, this aint the drinker you are looking for. I honestly wonder if I came back to this in a few months if I will have a very different score.

Nose: Heavy on the nuts: toasted chestnuts & hazelnuts. Acacia. Anise and fresh whole nutmeg. Redvines, red velvet cake. dr pepper, guajillo peppers. Disaronno, which Ryan taught me, is an amaretto liqueur made from almonds or peach pits.

Palate: Tobacco, dried peppers/ground chili pepper, dark chocolate, espresso grounds… hell, that is basically a mole recipe. And even the chicken to pair it with. But gentle and mercurial. Rolls across the palate fluttering from one part of the tongue to another. I was forced to drink prune juice every day as an older child. Apparently you should not eat fruit rollups with the plastic. Go figure, it’ll wreck havoc on your digestive tract. The long finish is strongly herbal.

Rating: 5 / 10 – Whoa. I’m blown away by the versatility of this spirit. My first Charron(s) are not at all what I expected. The DNA is fascinating. I’ll definitely look for more and see if there is a bottle with a less intense herbal side.

Nose: Coca cola concentrate. The shit my shop teacher used to degrease engines and dissolve baby teeth overnight. Black forest cake and dark chocolate cherry liqueur candies. Green turtle car wax. Brand new birthday balloons.

Palate: Carob. Licorice root extract. Portobello. Earthy and dense.The concentrator herbal intensity is off the scale. The syrup used to make Ricola. Then an oddly chemical moment, tastes like blowing up a balloon. Its got everything from the nose, from cola to chocolaty goodness. But that balloon overwhelmed it all.

Rating: 6 / 10 – If you love the herbal nature, this is freaking outstanding and probably an 8. I just don’t. So I can respect it enormously, but can’t love it.

Nose: You could slip this into a blind Guyana rum tasting and never bat an eye. Caramelized demerara sugar and toasted vanilla beans. Big beautiful oak. Star of anise and cloves. Eau of ripe banana.

Palate: For my parent’s 50th anniversary I’d like to cook something special. I just wish I had more of this bottle and I’d use it to make the perfect truffle. Dark chocolate covered espresso beans, molasses, rum creme brûlée, healthy touch of anise and cinnamon on the back of the palate. Bit of the dirty side too. Burnt rubber. I want to wax on poetically, but I’ll just sit back and drink this and stop typing.

Rating: 8 / 10 – Let’s just agree to call it Domaine de ChaRUM and lay ourselves down on the altar to pray.