Eavesdropping on the panel you would have heard words like ‘fascinating’, ‘amazing’, ‘compelling’, and ‘heavenly’ – enough said? No? OK – on the nose we got vanilla, concentrated coconut, perfumed oak, tropical island cocktails, lemongrass, lavender and mango. The palate discovered grapefruit, passion fruit, melon and nectarines, blue raspberry bonbons, white chocolate gateau and very old bourbon.

The reduced nose continued to delight us, with pineapple and grapefruit, blackberries, bubble-gum and bougainvillea. The taste was now an intriguing mix of bananas flambéed with rum, fudge, liquorice, dandelion and burdock and dried papaya. A very unusual but powerfully rewarding dram.