"I’m in Kingsbury Episcopi for the terroir. There are three established honeypot cider apple sites in England, according to research from the now-defunct Long Ashton Centre. All are in Somerset and the bowl of Kingsbury Episcopi is one of them. Julian and Matilda and the team at Burrow Hill can ameliorate and buttress and innovate and sculpt, but terroir is what makes this cider pulse and tick. Every bottle has an orchard of origin. Every vintage has a new story of hot summers, freezing snaps, torrential downpour, thunder, lightning and invasive mistletoe.

Somerset Cider Brandy doesn’t have the same wonkish, obsessive discipleship as single malt; it isn’t subject to the same online nerdiness and clamouring. It is, for now, whatever its makers want it to be. And of course, indisputably, it is the best in its class.

The maturation room, arrived at next, is a bewildering oak-hoard. A ramshackle cask medley. A barrel-nerd’s challenge. Name that vessel. Foudres and hogsheads, pipes and butts, puncheons and barriques. And, yes, barrels themselves. “We just fill whatever there is,” shrugs Laura. A splintered boat hangs from the rafters. I wouldn’t bat an eyelid if it was full of cider too. “What’s that for?” asks a bespectacled man at the front. “In case it floods,” replies Laura.”

"I must confess the product is very good, a most respectable cousin to AOC Calvados, reminding us that for a period of time, Normandy and Britain were ruled by the same kings"

‘The man behind Burrow Hill Cider also pioneered Somerset Cider Brandy. Over the past three decades Julian Temperley has done more than anyone else in Britain to develop classy drinks from homegrown apple juice.’

‘Pass Vale Farm at Burrow Hill nearMartock in Somerset, we decided, is the Domaine de la Romanée Conti of cider.’

“Julian Temperley is one of my food and drink heroes. From originally making cider with apples from his own orchard, he started making cider brandy which is on a par with, if not better than, our friends’ Calvados across the water. He makes three-year, five-year, 10-year and 20-year versions – my favourite is the 10-year one. If you want a lighter drink, the Pomona or Kingston Black are blended with his apple juice, and go well with cheese.”