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. Continue reading →

The last limited edition in Distll Group’s 2018 collection is the Tobermory 12 Year Old that was finished in Fino Sherry Casks.

The Tobermory whisky was matured in standard ex-bourbon casks for 10 years, before being finished for 2 years in Fino Sherry Casks. Total of 1,710 bottles were made.

Tobermory 2005 12 Year Old Fino Cask Finish (55.1%, £99.95)

Nose: The Fino cask speaks out loud here with sour fruits, citrus and mandarins, cherries and nuts. Getting spicier and coastal after a few minutes with brine, sea breeze and minerals, subtle sweet wine. After a few minutes also honey, fresh cut oak spice, malt, pickled cucumbers juice (a bit and in a good way) and more nuts. Continue reading →

Time to divulge into a distillery I’m not too familiar with: Tobermory Distillery from the Isle of Mull. I’ve recently tasted and reviewed their official 10 Year Old bottling (see here), but there aren’t too many officail bottlings to help exploring the distillery. They provide only 10yo and 15yo so we have to resort to indie single casks releases (Yeah, sad thing, I know… 😉 )

Let’s check a 20 Year old offering from the relatively unknown (yet a favorite of mine) Scottish bottler Whisky Broker.

The whisky comes from Hogshead number 188063, it was distilled 14th June 1994 and bottled 18th November 2014.

Tobermory 20 Year Old (Whisky Broker) (51.1%, 285 bottles, £40.50)

Nose: Starts with perfumed notes, vanilla and peaches. It masquerade as 100% clear and fresh nose but soon it becomes a  bit musty and heavier with lemon curd, cream, cookie dough, a big dash of mint and lemon. Association of baking in the kitchen with open window to the back yard during spring morning. Continue reading →

I’m taking part in (yet another) blind tasting competition. This time it’s an event organized for the local wine & alcohol forum. The first entry was Tomatin 14 which I reviewed in the past and failed to recognized it. The 2nd one was Tobermory 10 (the newer version with the higher ABV). I failed to recognized it but did get some points for guessing the age correctly 🙂

Tobermory 10 Year Old (46.3%, £29.45)

Nose: Heavy notes of malt, ‘dirty’ hay, honey and vanilla. This one is surely young as there are whiffs of new make notes and lots of malt. Given some time there’s a bit of milk chocolate, , sour berries with sugary sweetness which then develop and almost overtake the malt/honey/hay combo with strong strawberries note.
Continue reading →