Tomintoul 12yo (40%, OB, Oloroso, +/- 2008)

A limited edition bottling from Tomintoul distillery finished in Oloroso sherry casks for the last 18 months. The nose is of cereals and barley, pizza dough and warm bread with a back bone of sweetness that takes some gentle hand warming to bring out. There is also a very slight hint of soya sauce, which is a bit of a surprise. The overall nose is very gentle and is not aggressive. The taste is once again quite gentle and very smooth, the sweet sherry notes are this time more dominant that the cereals that were present on the nose and the overall taste is quite delicious. The taste is dramatically different from the nose; was this already mentioned? It’s very good and gentle and malty and sweet. The finish is of oranges, dark chocolate, malt, sherry, very mild oak and some more chewy malted barley. It’s quite long and very good. After a few minutes the sherry raises its head and smacks the other notes down. There is also a wave or two of the barley. The finish is loooonnng for such a gentle dram.

An impressive whisky and a great one to introduce to those who have very little experience with single malts.

£28

Score 84 Points

Visit Tomintoul Distillery at http://www.tomintouldistillery.co.uk/