This is the second recent addition to Tomatin core range along with the 14 year old I reviewed yesterday here. It’s replacing the 30 year old expression and is vatted from ex-Bourbon and ex-Port casks.
The sample I received was generous so I felt like sharing it. So I called a friend and a fellow blogger and we tasted it together, so if you want to compare our tasting notes of the same sample, read Michael take on it here and mine right after the break. Continue reading
Recently Tomatin distillery revamped their core range whiskies, dropping out the 15 year old and the 30 year old expressions while adding instead two new expressions: 14 year old and a 1988 vintage. Both are with port ‘touch’ – the 14 year old is finished in port while the 1988 is vatted from ex-bourbon and ex-port casks.
The Tomatin 15 year old was a bit of a foster child in Tomatin core range as it was fully matured in ex-bourbon casks while all other expressions have sherry involvement. I did tasted and compared the 12 year old to the 15 year old with the 12 winning over (see my review here), so I was very curious to see what Tomatin did with the 14 year old.
After a week devoid of important whisky news, came this week with a bunch of new press releases and I’ve put my eyes on two of them (care to guess which? :-))
Port finishes added to Tomatin Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky range
And you thought last week was a busy week with whisky news? hah!
Some good stuff is coming our way (us, whisky customers), read on to find out what to expect (Although the post title reveals most of what you need to know ;-)) Continue reading
Welcome to my first interview on The Whisky Gospel!
If you follow my blog, you probably know how much I love the online whisky community. It’s a great source of support for my kind-of-weird hobby and information on whiskies. The community is often called #whiskyfabric and the truth is that without them and the other persons sharing this same passion with me on the internet and the social networks, I wouldn’t be able to maintain the freshness and the enthusiasm of my hobby and be here on this blog.
But it’s not only amateurs and geeks/fanatics/enthusiasts that exists online – most of the distilleries and the independent bottlers have online presence interacting with their fans, customers and the whisky community. We tend to contact them asking questions, participating in their competitions, requesting information (and samples 😉 ) and we’re happy when they interact with us.
I was very curious to see how is life from the other side – who are they, what’s their perspective on social networks marketing and online community interactions. So curiosity killed the cat and it pushed me to open this new section on the blog – interviews, while starting a series of interviews with the people behind the distilleries and independent bottlers online presence. I hope you will enjoy it!
Tomatin distillery is one of my recent whisky revelations. Until recently I never gave them more then a quick glance when viewing distilleries lists and maps, but that changed with the help of the #WhiskyFabic gang. I already received sample of Tomatin Legacy which recently won a ‘Silver Outstanding’ award at IWSC 2013 (review is here) and I’ve been constantly preached to by other members (you know who you are…) to try more of this distillery.
With the recent tax reform here in Israel, and the aggressive pricing of the importer (kudos guys!), Tomatin core range is now available here for real good prices and so we managed to bring both Tomatin 12 and Tomatin 15 for the recent tasting event.
Despite both being close age-wise and part of core range, those two are completely different beasts and with different personalities – the Tomatin 12 is matured in a mix of sherry and bourbon casks and married in sherry casks, while the Tomatin 15 is a classic bourbon casks whisky.
So how do they stand up one against each other?
Tomatin 12 (40% ABV, Sherry finished, £28)
Nose: Yummy, very fruity and the sherry notes play strong here led by red berries and raisins – but not dominant – subtle and balanced, also malts notes and some spicy feel.
Palate: Here the oak wood notes are much more dominants along with red berries notes, not much raisins notes here which creates a little different sherry impact then the standard impact I’m used to. At the end I also feel pepper and numeg spices playing along with the rich oak wood notes.
Finish: Medium length, lingering oak, berries and nutmeg – love that combo.
Nose: Fruity, I even mistakenly thought it’s sherry finished on first sniff before it went more floral and bourbon effects of vanilla and oak. rich and creamy.
Palate: quite a different story then the younger sibling – dryer, showing strong flavors of oak and vanilla with the oak notes being a bit on the bitter side. also felt honey and coconut notes toward the end.
Finish: a bit short with strong oak notes and some topping of vanilla cream.
Conclusion: It’s really a matter of personal taste. The Tomatin 12 is more rich and sweeter (sherry impact or not?), while the Tomatin 15 is more dryer, malty and full of oak notes. During that highlands tasting session, I preferred the Tomatin 12 but I’ve nothing against the Tomatin 15 – I’d sip the Tomatin 15 again when I’ll feel the crave for malty, bouborny whisky. Overall, those are two rock solid entry-level bottles from Tomatin (both won awards at IWSC 2013 as well) and now I’ll be eagerly waiting to taste the higher end 18/25/30 bottles. Slàinte!
Internet is a great thing shaping our lives – especially the people you meet on it. When you spend time on social networks, you have many opportunities to meet people who share the same passions as you – even for rare and weird hobbies.
Fortunately, Whisky isn’t that esoteric (yeah right!) and I recently got acquainted with the large Twitter #WhiskyFabric gang – an amazing group of lads and gals who shares this Whisky passion just like I do.
One of the great traits of this group, besides the fact they are very friendly and helpful, is that they are GENEROUS. Just this week, following discussions on twitter that revealed how I lack in whisky samples, I received 2 shipments to fix this glaring issue 🙂
The Tomatin Legacy is the first one I taste from that shipment (Thanks Tom! Owe you one!) It’s a recent and new addition to the Tomatin line up – a No-Age-Statement expression in the low-end of the line up.
Tomatin Legacy (NAS, 43%, £24.99)
Nose: ooh, this one is young and kicking whisky – lots of vanilla, honey, sweet citrus and oaky wood notes, chocolate fudge, quite punchy at first, then relax in glass. Very fresh and light dram. After a while in the glass showing strong notes of new make spirit
Palate: Quite hot and punchy at first, lots of lemon and spice, strong oak notes but not overloading. Malty notes.
Finish: Medium length, leaving spicy lemon and wood notes.
Conclusion: Nice entry level whisky, great for summer times and for easy drinking on the porch/beach. With this very affordable price has great value and can be definitely considered as a great gift and introductory whisky for new comers
Whisky Gospel 