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On Thursday 21^st April 2016, the night before The Big Fortified Tasting, at the Boot & Flogger, we met for a double-vertical, Dow versus Graham.

Links:

• Review of the evening as a whole;
• Placemats;
• Planning and arrangements.

10% opacity, butterscotch. Nose tawnied, veering toward varnish. Tasted wrong, not undrinkable but a very sharp bitter edge. Various theories on the source of the failings. I suspect some combination of heat and light at play.

Bottled by Grants of St James. Golden orange in colour with a straw coloured rim. Soft on the nose with a hint of quince jam or perhaps apricot jam. Dirty entry with a little apricot jam and a touch of acidity to balance. The dirtiness runs through to the mid-palate and brings a lot of dust in the apricot jam. Languid afterataste with a persistent dried apricot and a long sweet finish. A poor bottle. 88/100.

G63. Orange, 20% opaque. Nose of VA. Some oranges, pleasant enough Port, but not right.