Dram data:
Distillery: Tomintoul
Bottler: Original Bottling
Distilled: –
Bottled: Unknown / 1990s?
Age: 8
Limitation: –
Casks: –
Alcohol: 43%
probably chill filtered and coloured
Whiskybase link
Tasting notes:
Colour: reddish gold
The nose offers a rich, fragrant mixture of fruits and sweetness. Honey melon, honey, malty sweetness, ripe pears, apricots, mango, apricots, orange oil, custard, toffee, creamy hot chocolate. Well-integrated alcohol (very well-integrated for an 8-year-old dram!) with a slight hint of yeast. No discernible wood notes. As time goes on the complexity fades away and it turns into a sweet fruit-puree mixture. The palate isn’t quite as rich and not as sweet as the nose made me hope for. A diluted experience of what it could be. Diluted being the keyword here. There’s notes of honey, (not quite ripe) apricots, water melon, orange juice (with bits), ginger (faint), custard, creamy toffee, but also a herbal-grassy note. Oily: yes, creamy in texture: yes – but all a bit too weak. The finish is initially oily and a rich mixture of herbs, spices and sweetness (fruit puree), medium long with the predominant lingering notes of yeast and faint wood.
Verdict:
The initial impression on the nose made me hope for a very good dram. An engaging mixture of fruits and sweetness, not too complex and aged, but very pleasing. Palate and finish weren’t quite up to that standard, but it’s still a nice, young, easy-sipping Speyside dram. Arguably a wee bit better than most standard supermarket whiskies are today, this vintage dram is now gone, replaced by other expressions, so you’ll have to look at auctions if you really want to hunt one down.
Score: 80/100
(Nose: 84 palate: 78 Finish: 80)