Nose: I haven’t had a pour in a week. Food poisoning is a brutal way to diet, but effective. I poured 1/4 the sample into a mini glencairn and went back to work. But the smell keeps calling my attention. Ridiculous with such a tiny pour. The French use the word gourmand, which translates to decadent, when they describe a pour this rich. My senses bask in it. Buttercream chocolate frosting. Bourbon cherries. I left my fabric mask sitting on a bag of spices from the farmers market on Thursday. Now it smells of star of anise and cloves and peppermint bark. And fruited pipe tobacco. I will definitely be doing that again. The oaken layer melts to a light funk towards the end of the nose, but it might be too small a pour to do that justice.
Palate: Bold and rich. Brighter and more herbal than I expected from the nose. Dark cherries and those candied fruits from high end christmas cakes. Bitch bark or licorice root. The after taste of a heavily roasted and nearly bitter espresso. When I was a teen, I learned to associate those small green wrappers and the crisp, clean bite of Andes Chocolate Mints as the hallmark of the end of a fancy meal. Dark chocolate and so minty fresh.
Rating: 8 / 10 – The nose is redonculous. Big, round, embracing. The mouth more herbal than I normally jive, but so well balanced I don’t care. But I’m clearly not minding the herbal tonight and normally homey don’t play that. Tested it again a week later, still freaking delicious. This is excellent.
