After reviewing Tomatin 2009 Caribbean Rum and finding it very lackluster, it’s time to move on and check out his big brother, the Tomatin 2006 Amontillado Finish.

It was distilled in 2006 and then moved to Amontillado Sherry Butts in 2015 so it was finished for 3 years before being bottled at the tender age of 12. 5,400 bottles at 46% were produced and like its young sibling it’s non chill-filtered and is natural colored.

The longer finish and higher age are encouraging signs and nurture my hopes that it will be better than the 2009 vintage.

Tomatin 2006 Amontillado Finish (46%, £56.95/€58.0)

Nose: Very nutty, cereals, sultanas, sour-sweet plums, almonds croissant cinnamon buns, muffins, bakery, dark chocolate. Very nice even if a bit single minded.

Palate: Nutty! nutmeg, cinnamon galore, cooked cinnamon, cinnamon buns, spices, honey, sultanas, coffee beans dark chocolate and as I stated in the beginning – strongly nutty.

Finish: Medium length, nutty, nutmeg, cooked cinnamon and paste , espresso, chocolate, peppery warmth, tingling spices bitterness.

Thoughts: Yes, mucho mucho better than the 2009 vintage. Very pleasant and tasty although it’s quite straightforward with strong amontillado influence of nuts with some chocolate and coffee thrown in.

Last fall, Tomatin distillery released 2 new expressions focusing on the finishes. The younger one is Caribbean Rum finished and the other one was finished in Amontillado finished.

Today we’ll check out the Rum finished one. This Tomatin was distilled in 2009, moved to Caribbean Rum Barrels in 2018 after nine years and then it spent another in 1st fill Caribbean Rum Barrels.

7,200 bottles at 46% were produced and it’s non chill-filtered and at natural color.

Tomatin 2009 Caribbean Rum Finish (46%, £46.95/€48)

Nose: Smells young and spirity, Green banana leaves, honey, soft and gentle whiffs of funk and Esters. a lot of cereals, butterscotch, shortbread, green fruits and white pepper lurks deep below. Continue reading →

Happy 2019 to you all! I’ve been quite dormant lately here on the blog but I can hope that 2019 will be far more productive here on the blog than 2018 was.

Let’s start 2019 with a bang with a review of a mature whisky – the 2018 batch of Tomatin 30 Year Old. I love old and matured Tomatin whiskies as they usually have lots of tropical fruitiness and I’m sucker for those notes.

Tomatin 30 isn’t a totally new expression – we had some previous incarnations of Tomatin 30 Year Old until the early 201x but it went out of commission when matured stock at the distillery dwindled and so it was replaced by the 1988 vintage batches. And now it’s back to market, retiring the 1988 vintage expression (which basically is a 30 year old now).

Tomatin 30 was matured in ex-Bourbon and traditional oak casks, bottled at 46% and has natural color and isn’t chill filtered.

Tomatin 30 Year Old (2108 Edition) (46%, £299/€252,84)

Nose: Soft stone fruits, creme, honey, gentle spices with lots of white pepper. After a minute or two a subtle tropical fruit sweetness, becoming very fresh and somewhat chocolaty. Continue reading →

Tomatin distillery is not resting. Following their virtues series, they released a new limited edition – the Tomatin 15 Year Old Moscatel Cask Finish which .

My friends know that I have some minor affinity to Tomatin whiskies and love most of what they do there, especially if it carries a high age statement age so it sports their old time tropical fruits note and flavors.

But this time it’s “only” a 15 year old that was distilled 6th June 2003, spent its first 10 years (9 years and almost 11 months in fact) in ex-bourbon casks and on 1st May 2013 it was transferred to Moscatel wine barriques (from Portugal) for another five years.

6000 bottles were made, bottled at 46% were made for this edition.

Tomatin 15 Year Old Moscatel Cask Finish (46%, £74.95/€78)

Nose: Soft nose, for a fleeting second I could believe its a Glenmorangie whisky. It’s sweet with lots of stone fruit, citrus, soft white pepper, butterscotch, cake-y. After breathing for a few minutes there’s sweet dessert wine, nuttiness, dried pineapple and banana, then more
nuttiness coupled with more stone fruit sweetness with a a touch of tropical sunshine. Very velvety and soft all along the way. Continue reading →

It’s been a while since I reviewed something from Tomatin Distillery so let’s check out their latest peated whisky, Cu Bocan 2006 which was released last fall.

Cu Bocan 2006 is vatting of sherry and bourbon casks from 2006, so the whisky is 10 or 11 year old. It was bottled at 50% and 12,000 bottles were made available around the world.

Tomatin Cù Bòcan 2006 (50%, £49.45/€56.50)

Nose: Malty, subtle honey and then sweet peat. Feels light and fresh and after a few minutes, bread and cookies dough, a bit of vanilla, weak pears and peaches. After some more oxidization there are soft smoked red fruit. With a few drops of water more fruitiness with stronger peaches smell, less malt/bread and very subtle smoke. Continue reading →

What do whisky geeks look for in a whisky? There are a few possible answers to this question but I think there’s one answer that will resonate true with most: Deeper understanding and new Information on what impacts and builds whisky taste.

Think about it for a moment: What impacts taste and flavor in whisky? We know that barley variant, yeast type, fermentation time (and vessels), still shape, heart cut and casks – all those impact flavor so it’s no wonder that we geeks love masterclasses, special whisky releases and aids that help us deconstruct whisky – to gain a better understanding of how it works and that reveal the innards of good and/or popular whiskies.

Only this week, there was a big uproar when Compass Box revealed the ingredients composing their latest two releases (namely the ages of the different casks that went into the blend). Whisky geeks applauded them despite that fact that a law was broken, because there was transparency and full information was disclosed. It means we know the recipe and we can chug onward toward finding our ultimate whisky and understand even further what makes whisky ‘clicks’.

Tomatin distillery is playing along with us geeks on this front, with special Cu Bocan releases, focusing on the major flavor corners (peat, sherry and bourbon) and now Tomatin Contrast.

Tomatin Contrast gives us whisky aficionados a unique opportunity to compare the effect of Bourbon and Sherry casks on whisky distilled at Tomatin Distillery at the same years. Of all the factors mentioned above, it’s a known fact (or is it an axiom?) that casks impact is the most important factor (between 50% to 80% of the final whisky flavor). The whisky in both Contrast halves was distilled in specific years (1973, 1977, 1988, 1991, 2002 & 2006) and so we are probably looking at a very similar spirit (same barley, yeast and stills), leaving the classroom stage to the casks and their impact.

Tomatin Contrast  (46%, 2x350ml, 5400 bottles, £95.99/€129.99)

Tomatin Contrast (Bourbon Matured)

Nose: First impression is sweetness and fruitiness with lots of tropical fruit notes. Fresh juicy pineapples, papaya and a touch of guava, Vanilla, subtle nuts, oak wood. All nicely balanced. After a few minutes in the glass: perfumed tropical juice, lemon zest and the nose becomes very sweet and like it a lot. Continue reading →

After reviewing yesterday the new Tomatin Cask Strength, let’s review Tomains’ second new release – The Cù Bòcan Virgin Oak. It’s the second release in the trilogy showcasing the influence of each cask type which makes up Cù Bòcan: Sherry, Virgin Oak and Bourbon. I reviewed the Sherry in the past and now it’s time to try the virgin oak edition.

Like the sherry edition, there are only 6000 bottles available and it was fully matured in First Fill Virgin Oak casks which should lend us lots of sweetness, vanilla and coconut. How well will it work with the peat?

Tomatin Cù Bòcan Virgin Oak Edition (46%, £49.95/€61.95)

Nose: A very fresh and interesting nose, It starts with a moderate-to-weak peat wave but soon its taking backseat to sweet pears and apricots, vanilla, massive sweetness, almost too much but still fresh and a bit zesty. Continue reading →

It’s been a while since I posted some notes as I was immersed in a blind tasting competition where I finished at top half but not too close to the top. I’ll have some post with my thoughts on the competition but I need some more time to get them into coherent and logical post so in the meanwhile let’s review some new additions on the whisky shelves, starting with the new Tomatin Cask Strength expression.

Till now all OB from Tomatin were bottled in 46% and lower so this is a new and great refreshment to the lineup. The whisky was matured in a combination of Bourbon barrels and Oloroso Sherry casks, 15,000 bottled were produced and it was bottled at cask strength of 57.5%.

Tomatin Cask Strength (57.5%, £48.95/€51.75)

Nose: starts with malt and sweet honey. Then a big sweet and light stewed fruits glazed with golden syrup and cinnamon sprinkles. The youth and malt notes still pop up over again like bubbles. A few minutes in the glass reveals drops of tropical juice and the nutmeg kinda replaces the cinnamon one. There’s no stronger sherry influence where the sweet sugar gets darker and brown, raisins and dark sweet wine. With a few drops of water it’s lighter and fruitier but retain the overall impression. Continue reading →

I visited Tomatin distillery a month ago and I still owe you a detailed post on it but in the meanwhile here’s a review of one of their latest offering, the Cù Bòcan  – The Sherry Edition.

You probably wonder what is it, so here’s what we were told in the official press release:

With the standard edition comprising Sherry, Virgin Oak and Bourbon casks, this is the first of three limited editions highlighting the flavours derived from each cask type.

Fully matured in first fill Sherry butts, the Sherry edition is rich and fruity with hints of smoke and paprika. There are only 6000 bottles available and it is expected to retail at £49.99 in specialist retailers.

This is a not a new concept in the industry, as previous limited editions were already produced (like Balantines 17) but it’s always a great idea to showcase the stronger impact of specific cask time.

Side note: I know that different glasses will expose different notes, but It’s been a while since the difference was so substantial. I’ve sniffed this whisky in both a Glencairn and the official Tomatin nosing glass and it was so different a whisky. Do you ask yourself which glass was used for the notes below? Go ahead and try both glasses and you’ll see 🙂

Tomatin Cu Bocan Sherry cask (46%, 6000 bottles, £42.15)

Nose: It’s young and kicking at first sniff. There are new make notes, lots of malt and of course lots of peat although it’s not sharp but it smells like more than 15 ppm. Buy then the peat recedes and there are all those fortified tropical fruits – Melon, Ananas, Mango. very Tomatin-like but with extra sweetness.

Palate: starts with peat but less so than what I felt on the nose at first, light influence of sherry with pastry, demerara sugar, chocolate, spice, all laced with tropical juice

Finish: short-medium length with nutmeg spice, sweet light sherry and lingering peat.

Toughts: This one felt very young at first (is it younger then the standard Cu Bocan?), then get balanced with some air breathing making it lightly peated with extra sweet tropical fruits. Very tomatin-like whisky with the peat. Real solid offering from Tomatin for those who like the dash of peat in their whisky.

(Official sample was received from Tomatin Distillery)