Leaving the Reservation: Barbadillo Pedro Ximenez Cherry Jerez

Last night was my 50^th birthday celebration. I was very lucky to have so many of my wonderful family and friends there to help me celebrate it. It was a blast – great food, great music, wine, dancing and lots of laughs. My lovely L was there to support me, with her two boys, and also my own gorgeous daughter LG was there too, who gave a lovely speech with the cutest joke, “what did the burglar do at the birthday party: he stole the show”. Heh.

The day after, I am surveying a couple of gifts I was given by very generous friends who chose to ignore the “presence; no presents” rule.

First up the Pedro Ximinez sherry. At 19% it conceals a fist in a calfskin glove. Super sweet. Strong taste of dried dates. Very nice. This I will keep coming back to as an after dinner digestif.

Then:

Patron XO Cafe Dark Coffee Liqueur with Silver Patron Tequila, Mexico

At 30%, this one has a message in the bottle, and to quote Monty Python, that message is beware.

Lots of dark choc on the nose and on the palate. Tequila bursts through the cocoa and delivers quite a punch. Warmth spreads through the mouth. Similar to Baileys but stronger.

Great with coffee and ice cream.