Hi everyone,
Tomatin has been one of those hidden gems that I discovered relatively recently on my stag do.
Having reviewed a lot of the higher end stuff/single casks, etc. I thought it was high time I get round to the more normal stuff I’d forgot to put up here.
If you don’t remember or just don’t know, Tomatin is a massive distillery. Bigger than Glenfiddich and Glenlivet at its prime. But they started focussing more on single malts and cut their output to focus on quality. That’s really paying off, along with a repackaging to make the bottles stand out more.
First up, the basic NAS:
Tomatin Legacy 43%
Colour: Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Sour, malty and slightly dirty. Earthy malt, lemon, bruised red apple, some orange, candied sweetness, barrel char, burnt oak, some nutmeg.
Taste: Again malty and sour. Red apple, lemon, earthy malt then more orange and more earth developing. It's quite dirty! Barrel char, honey, some Bourbon-esque vanilla.
Finish: Medium length. Dirty with burnt oak and earth.
Gosh, I was expecting a light citrus Highlander. It's quite dirty and burnt. Ahhhhh, virgin oak barrels. That would explain it, probably heavily charred. I remember trying a virgin oak single cask at the distillery and being very impressed with the quality at a very, very young age.
70/100
Tomatin 12 40%
Colour: Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Speyside fruit, red apple, some cinnamon, dry oak, toffee apple, caramel too.
Taste: Red apple arrival, then some spice and caramel, toffee. Unexpected coriander. Dry oak comes through with clove.
Finish: Medium length. Dry oak with a tiny bit of apple.
Old packaging, in the tall bottle. Middle of the road. Perfectly fine but gets harsher as it opens up. I prefer the new Legacy, which I honestly did not expect given the age statement.
68/100
Tomatin 18 46%
Colour: Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Red apple, Sherry, light raisin, green apple, citrus and acidity.
Taste: Red apple, Sherried raisins, cutting but balanced fresh acidity, green apple.
Finish: Long length. More Sherry but slightly rubbery.
15 years Bourbon, 3 year Sherry finish. Presonally, (and I’ve found this before) I don’t think Tomatin does well with Sherry finishes. So, although this one is better than the others I was a little disappointed with this.
74/100
Thanks for reading!
Scotch Reviews #580-#582
Whisky Network Reviews #685-#687
Network Average: 74.7
Best Score: 93
Worst Score: 22
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent
Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.
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