Tobermory 10 Year

Nose: Gristy, grassy and fresh with citrus overtones. A very cereal-driven nose with a bracing medicinal herbal touch. There's also an oily maritime quality to it that I find very attractive and a hint of smoke, but so fleeting as to be just a flight of fancy. Palate: A sweet and tingly spice arrival. It's lightly creamy in character but also crisp and clean. The development is slow and measured, gradually building up flavours of sweet-and-sour citrus, brine, licorice, barley sugar, ginger and peat (not smoke, peat). It has a pleasant texture that is slightly oily but dry. As it rests in the glass it becomes more and more salty. Finish: Medium/long with minty, maritime cereal flavours that have an almost anaesthetic quality that must come from an interaction with wood tannin. This fades to a refined sweetness that lasts and lasts. This is a most interesting and elegant malt with great finesse. I've been meaning to get around to tasting it for some time and I'm not disappointed. It's a subtle one that conveys many impressions. It's maritime, but not the sledgehammer bonfire on the beach sort, nor the blanketing sooty fog rolling in from the Atlantic. It's much more a quiet stroll by yourself on a deserted shingle beach on a cold, cloudy day - oyster shells crunching underfoot, chill surf hissing on the stones and curlews crying in the distance. A most evocative frisson of a whisky - lovely, austere, complex and gentle, like a Hitchcock blonde. "Very Good" : 85/100 (4 stars)

Nose: light smell - can’t pick much out, light nail varnish, swimming pool, oak Palate: salt, grapefruit, sharp orange, a bit bitter Finish: bitter grapefruit _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Last 16, Match 5: Tobermory 10yo versus Cutty Sark Prohibition Tobermory distillery has had a varied history, at times put to other uses such as a canteen and a power station, some of the distillery buildings converted into flats and others rented for cheese storage. I’ve heard that the whisky too can be variable. But what of this sample? On this tasting it was as shy as a cloistered nun. Extremely light in colour, and not very forthcoming on the nose. The palate gave the Cutty Sark a run for its money but overall Tobermory fell short and instead it is the impressive blend that breaks the tape. _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- The intolerable torment of a whiskyphile. I have too large a backlog of samples and miniatures to go through and making a decision on what to drink next is hard. Like choosing the right footwear in the morning I flip flop. So, I have picked sixteen scotch whiskies that are 12yrs or younger or NAS to battle it out in a Scotch Deathmatch. It’s my incentive to lighten the logjam. Follow along if you care (and really why should you?). Oh the drama! https://challonge.com/ScotchMadness

Color: The color for this Scottish island delight is a very light honey gold. The legs are thin but viscous. Nose: The nose hit my nasal cavity with a light alcohol burn, but after acclimating, notes of green grass and hay bales stand way out in front. Honey, baking spices, soaked wood, and honeycrisp apple notes fill out the rest of the amazing bouquet. Taste: The palate contains notes of sea salt, fruits, honey, oaky tannins, malt and dark chocolate. It’s really quite delicious though maybe a little complex. Finish: The finish is medium long in length. The aftertaste is salty, bitter, and almost creamy like a stout beer Thoughts: This scotch was so delicious, vibrant, and full! It had an uncanny resemblance to a stout beer in my opinion, and as that is one of my favorite styles of beer, I really enjoyed it! I think a splash of water brings it down to the perfect level according to my preferences. I would definitely buy this one again, and highly recommend it! Sláinte!

Tobermory is a close cousin of Ledaig 10. Or, perhaps to put it more accurately, Tobermory is heir to the throne, bearing the name of the distillery itself, while Ledaig 10 is the cousin and second-in-line. The distinction between the two is that Tobermory's malt is unpeated, although its flavor profile purportedly picks up some peat influence because the spring water used actually flows over peat bogs. To be honest, I was hard-pressed to detect that here, but what is apparent is that this is a high-quality single malt. The nose features a slightly oily aroma, green apple, and toffee, and those flavors are joined on the palate by a rich, chewy, pure cereal grain note that is much more pronounced and cleaner than in your typical 10-year single malt. The finish is also cereal and oat-flavored, and makes for a satisfying conclusion to this one. For $50-60, you could do a lot worse.

Well well what do we have here? An unpeated island whisky you say? Tell me more? If you’re a fan of the Bunna 12 or The Classic Laddie, you’ll like this one. Creamy malt with a hint of sour citrus zest and a little bit of salt. I’m almost tempted to make a margarita with this dram. Where this one really shines is the finish. The proof helps the finish linger for so long; long enough that you never want it to end. You know. The way you used to wish Game of Thrones wouldn’t end. But I digress... Bit hard to find this pour. I can find it’s peated brother, Ledaig, easily enough, but folks must not be lining up for an unpeated islander as much. Shame. This is a quality drop. Keep an eye out for it. I got this one in a 50 ml sample bottle. Trying to work through my samples by years end so I can focus on my open bottles. Stay tuned for my 20 for 20 year of reviews. Cheers!

Pale white wine color, 46.3% abv and unchill filtered. The nose has a sweet and herbaceous aroma. Funkness. Anise and fennel are the stars here, not an aroma usually associated to scotch Single Malt whisky, rather found on the best Brazilian cachaças aged on Bálsamo wood. Very unusual, but I really like it! The taste is first of all, spicy! Behind that, some sweetness and yellow fruits, although I can’t precisely point out which ones. (Melon perhaps?) The aftertaste goes on forever, leaving behind a tingle on the tongue and a herbal taste on the mouth. Great! I think that just like Springbank, Tobermory’s (and so Ledaig) distillate has a very distinct “funkness” of its own. Not for everyone for sure, but definitely for me. And there it is... another entry on the ever growing hall of the great 10 yo whiskies.