Southern Comfort (175cl, 35%)

Southern Comfort is an American whiskey-based liqueur, here in a 1.75 litre bottle at 35% vol. It traces back to a recipe by M.W. Heron in New Orleans, in which bourbon was steeped with vanilla bean, lemon, cinnamon, cloves, cherries and orange peel, then sweetened with honey. The current version uses whiskey as its base spirit again, after years made on neutral grain spirit. The nose is honey and vanilla with cinnamon, light oak and ripe peach and apricot. The palate is mellow and honeyed, with dried peach, orange marmalade, lemon zest, caramel, nutmeg and clove. The finish is medium and gently warming, with peach, vanilla and a trace of clove.