Tasting the neat spirit with just such a good friend and whisky aficionado we instantly agreed – a very rare occurrence - that there were two overwhelming flavours. The first to hit you, on the nose as well as the taste buds, is very strong caramel, like a Quality Street toffee. This is so powerful it largely masks any more interesting stuff beneath it – a hint of banana or even bubble gum perhaps - but caramel is unobjectionable enough if unsubtle. Then the caramel is rinsed away by a still more dominant and rather shocking taste, as near to vodka as makes no difference. But this is whisky.

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The company is pushing the idea of enjoying a dram or two out of doors with friends even in the winter, letting the spirit heat your insides while a chiminea warms you outside. All very jolly but perhaps not with this particular whisky. A better idea is its use in cocktails, where the vodka-esque power does harmonise nicely with other ingredients – the Redfire recipe they give (Grant’s Family Reserve Whisky, a dash of cherry brandy, and a slug of tonic water, served over crushed ice) proved very pleasant.

Which left me wondering if the vodka thing was deliberate: vodka and its bastard alco-pop children have captured many new drinkers, whose spending power is considerable. The same market too often regards whisky as fuddy-duddy. Will those twenty-somethings if induced to try it be seduced by the very vodka quality that repels this fifty-something?