It was a quiet and silent 2 years period on the island Mull while Tobermory distillery was closed for renovations, updates and upgrades. But earlier this year it opened up again for business and to celebrate the occasion they released a new whisky to the market – Tobermory 12 Year Old.

The new Tobermory 12 Year Old actually replaces the old Tobermory 10 which was phased out and is now serving as the the basic entry level unepeated offering from the distillery (with Ledaig 10 remaining as the counterpart for the peated side). As usual from a Distell distillery it’s bottled at 46.3% and isn’t chill filtered.

Tobermory 12 Year Old (46.3%, £45.95/€43.95)

Nose: Sharp at first. honey and meadow bordering rocky slops, croissant. After a few minutes it’s floral with spring breeze, almonds, soursweet honeyed pears, stone and citrus fruits.

Palate: Rock dust, vanilla and honey, stone fruits, croissant dough, freshness (like breath freshener mints), white pepper and baking spices.

Finish: Medium length, warm, rock powder, vanilla with a bit of honey and lots of oak spice and white pepper.

Thoughts: There’s not much complexity here but as an entry level this does a good job. Although at times it felt to me a bit too spicy with strong rocks and dusty, there’s a good amount of fruitiness, honey and vanilla along the spices to mitigate the spices effect and it may get better after some exposure to air – this warrants another check in the future.