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Tuesday 26 June 2012

Tomatin's New Fifteen Year Old


Almost a year to the day, we bought you news of a brace of interesting Tomatin releases,
including the spankingly brilliant Decades release, which very nearly came top in our
end of year BIG Awards.

Now, the distillery are bringing out another interesting limited edition bottling -
this time bringing together the worlds of American whiskey and Spanish wine casks.

The fifteen year old release is a combination of bourbon barrels and ex-Tempranillo
wine casks, bottled at cask strength.  The release will be limited to around
3,000 bottles and priced at £49.99

Here's how it measures up...



Tomatin -  15 year old - 52% 

Nose: Initially a dry biscuity note, followed by some notes of icing sugar,
marzipan and meringue. Dig deeper and some raisin notes begin to emerge.
A drop of water offers some fresh plum notes, with a touch of aromatic tobacco.  

Palate: Hot without water, leading into notes of dryness, some liquorice /anise spice,
some green apple peel, a touch of lemon zest and more tobacco notes.
With a dash of water the mouthfeel gets a little richer, with vanilla cream, more meringue
notes, a hint of green banana and something a little soapy.

Finish:  Lingering notes of anise and cream.

Overall: Whilst this isn't in the same league as the wonderful Decades release,
it is still a solid whisky, with neither the Tempranillo wine, nor bourbon casks taking
a definitive lead.    For the money, it is extremely good value for money and
well worth seeking out.