Cocktail Of Ash And Brine

SPIRIT NOTES

The nose evoked eating Frazzles on the beach with distant bonfire smoke – until the tide washed the bonfire away. On the palate, that smoke was joined by sweet heat (chilli langoustines), birch sap, cinders and a mineral lick of salt and pumice. The reduced nose seemed like a cocktail of ash and brine, with a hint of oily mackerel eaten from old newspapers next to a burning oil drum (contents of which included Abroath Smokie’s tails and strings and branches of sea buckthorn). The palate turned sweeter; we identified rhubarb crumble with cinnamon and raisins and a slightly burnt pecan pie.