Tomatin 12 Year Old French Oak - 46% abv.
Tomatin's graced North America with a special edition 12 year old whisky that was aged in ex-bourbon barrels and then decanted into some French Oak casks for a finish. I jumped on a bottle of this the first day it showed up in my local store for two reasons: I trust Tomatin and French Oak aging is pretty rare.
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Colour: Gold with a touch of copper
Nose: Soft and a sweet with bitter chocolate and orange. Some nice sugars in there too. Water opens the nose and makes the chocolate more milky.
Palate: lovely velvety texture with a sweet arrival that moves to a more herbal and a bit drier feeling at the back of the palate. Good balance - not to sweet, not to savoury, not to bitter. i get semi-sweet chocolate. I get orange. I get orange peel. I get some mint on the tail end. There might be a bit of banana in there. Its lighter in style like a bourbon cask aged whisky but there is nice richness and other flavours there from the french oak.
Adding water to this is a good idea - it kind of spreads it out. I get golden yellow sugar. I get chocolate. I get orange (like navel oranges). I get more mint at the back of the palate. The slight bitter note goes away as well. Very nice stuff! Easy drinking. I like it.
Finish: good medium persistence and makes it down the throat past the Adam's apple with a minty fresh feeling.
When would I drink this? It can be had any time, really. I tend to like it in these fall/winter days where I happen to crave something a little lighter but with enough richness to suit the colder weather.
Another solid Tomatin! Not expensive either... I'd imagine this making a good gift for folks on a budget.
Tomatin 18 Year Old - 46% abv.
Well here is review number 50. A round number that I thought deserved a special whisky for review. I've chose something from one of my favourite distilleries, Tomatin, for this one. I drink good whiskies all the time but every once in a while you come across those ones that are just of a special quality. When I come across bottles of intrinsic quality like this, I like the idea of getting a second to put away for later just in case the future batches are different or the distillery stops making the product. I think Tomatin 18 Year Old finished in Oloroso Sherry Casks fits in this category.
For the record, the Tomatin 18 is aged in bourbon barrels for 15 years and then decanted into Oloroso Sherry casks for 3 additional years. Tomatin used to take some 15 year old and bottle it (previously reviewed Tomatin 15) but they've stopped that now to preserve the stock to make the 18 year old. The 18 is non-chill filtered with no colouring added and is bottled at 46% alcohol.
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Colour: Full gold with a hint of amber.
Nose: Orange peel, banana, toffee, brown sugar, a hint of mint. Soft and full on the nose.
Palate: mellow and sweet on entry. Leads with oaky caramels and orange peel and leads into a hint of mint. Lots of flavour but still soft. No heat on the palate - just mellow warmth. Another sip brings a little banana, a touch of chocolate, some more orange, a hint of vanilla extract and brown sugar and some mint again on the back of the palate. The layers of desert-like flavours play off the layers of citrus notes and feed into the soft and fresh mint so well... its sweet but never too sweet and so well balanced. A lovely layered development with a mellowness and consistency that seems to only truly happen with age.
Finish: finishes so nicely with flavours lingering and the liquid coating your insides all the way down to your belly with a soft warmth.
When would I drink this? This is the kind of whisky to share with your boss or father-in-law with confidence that they will leave thinking you know what you are doing. Unfortunately for those guys, I'm not sure that I'd want to share this with anyone. Yes its one of those ones. For sure an evening dram by the dying embers of a fire. Truly a whisky of high intrinsic quality from a distillery that always seems to produce fantastic product.
A tip: I like to let this whisky open up with time rather than adding any water to it. Water doesn't kill it or anything, but it is so mellow already I prefer not to add it in mine. So that doesn't mean that you sit there in stare at it for an hour but it does mean you should leave it a few minutes after pouring and then savour it slowly. It is very good to start and does open up.
