What Does John Know?

It’s great to finally see some older expressions of Tomatin after many years of only being offered the 12 year old and left to wonder what mature Tomatin would taste like. The 40 year old is impressive, and the 18 year old is by far the best bang for the buck. (All are reviewed below, in order of increasing age.)

Tomatin 12 year old, 43%, $25
Pleasantly sweet. Good malt foundation with an abundance of bright summer fruit. Clean, straight-forward and uncomplicated.

Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 80

Tomatin 18 year old, 43%, $60
Fuller in body, deeper and more complex than the 12 year old (as would be expected). Sweeter fruits (honey-laced citrus, lemon gum drops, and ripe peach) and rum notes marry nicely with dried spice (cinnamon, vanilla, ginger). Calming finish. An intelligent use of sherry cask aging.

Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 87

Tomatin 25 year old, 43%, $125
Plenty of citrus zest, along with subtle pineapple and coconut on the nose. The palate begins with honeyed-malt sweetness, followed by the citrus fruit, but then quickly turns dry and resinous, with dried nuts and spicy oak on the finish. The intensity of the dryness on the finish surprised me and detracted from an otherwise well-rounded dram.

Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 79

Tomatin 30 year old, 1976 vintage, 49.3%, $400
Bold and spicy, but with enough backbone to handle it. Surely the most intense of the bunch overall. (The 25 year old is dry on the palate—especially on the finish—but the 30 year old challenges you the throughout.) There’s plenty of oak here, imparting leather, resin, and dried spice notes (cinnamon, clove, vanilla), but it is rescued by sherried fruit, honeyed citrus, and toffee. A powerful dram.

Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 87

Tomatin 40 year old, 1967 vintage, 42.9%, $1000
Significantly darker than the rest, well-balanced, and palate-coating. Softer, not as intense or as dry as the 30 year old. Creamier too, with subtle, yet exotic notes of tropical fruit and exotic spices. There is a point at which ultra-aged spirits—whether they are whisky, rum, tequila, or brandy—find a common ground. What they lose in identity, they gain in intrigue and layers of subtle complexity (if properly matured). This whisky fits into that category. Contemplative and ethereal in nature.

Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 91

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 18th, 2008 at 7:00 am and is filed under Reviews, Scotch whisky. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.