Distilled at Tobermory distillery in 1993, matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead (cask number 245) and bottled on 13 March 2019 by The Single Cask. Bottle outturn: 94
Appearance: Light gold, between white wine and apple juice.
A lovely thick and viscous swirl line forms and quickly transforms into many teardrops and thick oozy trails back to the surface.
Nose: A subdued ABV (even for 45%) makes this an immediately friendly and easy nose.
Sweet apple pie with brown sugar encrusted on top. Vanilla, the slightest cooling spearmint and emerging red berries.
Subsequent sips start to reveal a slightly mellower custard vanilla meeting with the fruits. Like the end of a bowl of mixed berry and apple pie and custard, when it all becomes one!
Throughout the evolving aromas, the balance and marriage remain consistently very good. The effect of the ABV also seems to creep up as you nose too.
Great start, lovely!
Palate: A ‘nice’ mouthfeel, semi-viscous, for a 26-year old I’d like it to have been more luxurious but it’s good nonetheless.
The first so reveals a minty spice gets the palate first, there’s also a vegetal feel that wasn’t apparent from the nose and took me by surprise.
The second sip onwards and a continued building of gentle spice and whisp of sweet BBQ sauce, together with a sweeter custard edge and a ripple of those red berries.
As the palate acclimatises there’s an increase in the sweetness, as well as grape and blood orange, with a slight bitterness.
Finish: Medium in length. Slight black pepper spiciness, a touch of astringency, sweet minty cooling/cut grass vegetal and a (small) side order of vanilla custard.
Overall: It’s a very nice and pretty flavoursome dram. I always say this but I’d really like to try this at cask strength. It felt a bit thin and, for a 26 year old, not quite ‘full-on’ enough. For around £200 a whisky has to be utterly exceptional, not ‘very nice’.
