Tomatin 30 yo ~ 2014 release vs Tomatin 32 yo 1981/2014 Oloroso Butt #001
Sometimes I get quite bored trawling through whisky groups and websites because it feels like the same very popular names keep appearing. Look these can be great whiskies in their own right, but when you’ve seen 5 pictures of Macallan or Laphroaig something-or-other in a day, it gets a bit tedious. Anyone with half a curious mind who has already explored the core range of these names should really get out there and try lesser known names because I promise you, you are in for surprises. Even if you don’t like what you try, you expand your horizons more from something different than from another travel retail Laphroaig with some Gaelic name.
Tomatin is one such whisky, hardly ever appears in anyone’s feeds, nobody wants to try doing a bottle split, nobody seems interested in a ‘blending’ whisky. But little do they know Tomatin from the right years (usually with some age) can be very good. Here are 2 examples, both a little older, one seems mostly vatted from refill bourbon casks, the other has a big sherry smack in it.
Tomatin 30 yo ~ 2014 release 46%
Nose: Light, cut grass and aromatically rich with high toned fruit notes like peach, mandarins, limes, yellow apricots, and generally yellow or green fruit . Basically a whole array of fruity esters. Impeccably clean and fresh with not a lot of wood influence despite it’s 30 years – which is great as in this case it allowed the lighter spirit to express itself. I do still feel some oak lactones but it is certainly in the background.
Palate: Medium, zesty and fruity-sweet. Really fruity and juicy with all these fruits from the nose. Amazingly vibrant at its venerable age. Texture is light and clean but coating like a clear linseed oil. Light touches of traditional ginger candy. Great! Really came alive on the tongue. Citrus pith towards the finish. So accessible and so rewarding.
Finish: Medium long, fresh juicy fruit and zest. And rather lingering for such a light whisky. Very evocative.
Tomatin 32 yo 1981/2014 Oloroso Butt #001 42.3%
Nose: Yup huge Oloroso influence, but hallelujah! One thing which I detest about many sherry matured whisky is absent… Overbearing oak. Rich and dry aromatics of dried purple fruit, a bit of tar, a drop of cough syrup. This one is all about the Oloroso, at least the Oloroso is of a high quality. Polished panels, new Chesterfields redolent of creme conditioner, unlit tobacco, cloves and cinnamon sticks. If only the Tomatin fruit could find a way to stand up to the sherry.
Palate: Guess what, I can feel echoes of fruit, again it’s that juicy fresh green and yellow fruit, straining to be heard beneath the weight of the sherry. Ok no. The sherry dominates soon enough. Naturally it has a lighter weight but manages to carry the richness of the sherry without becoming too cloying or heavy the way some first fill Glendronach might be. In fact a pretty good match I think, the purple aromatics but not yet a dessert whisky.
Finish: Rather long, and sherried, more polished oak, boxes of prunes, spices etc. I can see how this would be a 90+ pointer to someone who has a love affair with sherry, but that’s not really me so…
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