The story behind Cù Bòcan is beautiful, it is about a HELLHOUND that lurks tomatin village, and if it appears, if you try to touch it, it will become a ghostly smoke. That is why tomatin calls cù bòcan to its peaty dram. Aged for 11 years, bottled at 50%abv, amber color. On the nose is very heavy: Peppery-islay type of aroma at first. Very strong. There is some sweetness behind the first powerful layer. English sauce (typical from peaty whiskies). Is more earthy than smoky. Prunes. Dim blackberry aroma. Quite complex, but that is to be expected from a 50%abv dram, lots of flavors and aromas. After i let it sit for 5 minutes, that peppery/earthy peatyness stands but those sweet dried fruit aromas increase in a very pleasant way. It is still too strong to actually dip your nose into the glencairn. Due to its strenght and difficult to enjoy the sweet aromas, i cant score it really big on the nose even if it is complex. On the palate sweet vanilla oakyness, then a spicy/peppery feeling, not harsh for 50%abv, actually very pleasant. Smoky on the palate, delicious, sweet, spicy, smoky perfectly balanced. A little Toffee can be found too. Aftertaste is also peppery and long; fresh. Pleasant. Really a nice dram. Overall i can score this dram with a 92 over a 100 and i feel i am dishonest with it, it feels like more.
About this bottle
Different from the original "lightly peated" Cù Bòcan that was first introduced in 2013 and is part of the Tomatin Distillery's core range, this 2005 Vintage is a limited edition release launched in August 2016. During the last week of every year since 2005, the Highland distillery has been producing a peated malt that was originally intended for in-house blending. But once this came of age, they decided to bottle it as its own vintage single malt. It spent its years maturing in ex-bourbon and sherry casks, and is bottled at 50% ABV, a higher proof than the original. Only 11,400 bottlings were produced.
Reviews
Showing the most detailed of 10 parsed reviews.
I decided to open another new bottle tonight and since I've got more smoky scotches open right now I chose to pop another Tomatin offering: Cu Bocan. This one is named about a mystical beast that roams the Scottish villages around the Tomatin distillery. It's a robust 92 proof and costs a very affordable $55. This has become an annual release and this review is not for the 2005 vintage listed here. This was the 2015 version. It's pale yellow in the glass and produces nice legs after swirling it around a bit. The nose is flat out amazing. There's a lively lemon citrus that smacks you instantly followed by that normal sherry sweetness with a gentle wisp of smoke to round this thing out perfectly. The smell is borderline mouth watering. There's a big zesty and peppered oak bite that immediately gets your tongue tingling. The finish is just as zippy and warms as it settles into your stomach. Overall, this is a very enjoyable single malt. The bottle art and description advertises peat smoke, but I didn't get enough on the palate to tell one way or the other. It's there on the nose, but that's about all I got. With a relatively cheap price point, I gotta say this Tomatin is a big winner for me. This would be a nice everyday, after work sipping scotch. Seek this one out my friends. Cheers.
Lemon and honey on the nose, with a touch of smokiness. Quite a bit of bite on the tongue, softened with a touch of water. Sherry notes, sweet and soft, are offset by pepper and spice. The finish is long and warm, with a mild oily quality. Good, but not great
I Don't love it, don't hate it. I'm drinking the 50% one and as much as I hate adding water, this one needs a touch then it's quite tasty. Do I regret buying out? No Would I buy it again? No There is much better out there for the price of this...
Very smooth start, slight spice at the end. Fruity with a touch of peat.
Süsslich Äpfel, Honig, wenig Rauch, etwas stark Alk
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