Root beer carnival

Creamy vanilla ice cream melted over strawberries, kiwi and melon, finished with toffee sauce and a Caribbean rum cocktail garnished with kaffir lime and mint leaves. Flavours in the mouth were chewy and rich however, as marmalade, raisins and dark chocolate merged with red liquorice, cherry cola and the warming spice of nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon. With water came a complex mix of root beer, fennel seeds and hazelnuts, that combined with fresh raspberries and lime. Evocative notes of brioche and fruit tarts now joined ripe pears and dried apricots in a heavy fruitcake topped with orange zest. After 12 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, this was transferred to a first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead.