October 2, 2015

Time Warp tasting, today Tomatin

Whenever someone asks me ‘what’s the easiest malt whisky’ or ‘what malt for a beginner’, I answer Tomatin. In my book, it’s the epitome of light fruitiness, but it sometimes needs a little age before it gets complex enough. Indeed, young Tomatins can be boring. We won’t have any today, as we’ll start with a 1989. And then, we’ll try to find an older one… And an old bottling, preferably.

Tomatin 25 yo 1989/2015 (51.9%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection)

Colour: straw. Nose: yippee yee yah! Or something like that. Total easiness at first nosing, with a large bag of… of… I mean, say Danish pastry and apricot-filled croissants. You can’t get any easier. Plus a little mead, custard, and butterscotch. And some cut grass to keep it straight and standing. With water: good, it’s the barley that comes out, together with more earth, and a wee waxy feeling, between putty and paraffin. Mouth (neat): goodness, this is for kids! Perfect orange lozenges, squash, wine gums, soda, drops, liqueurs, syrups, cakes, bonbons, cordials, cocktails (that’ll do, S.)… and grass. Some pepper and green tea are there to keep law and order, before it gets too… orangey. Love this. With water: same. Just the same. It’s not that it doesn’t swim, it just would care about water. Finish: medium, as always with Tomatin, but bright, citrusy, very easy. Love the grassy aftertaste that prevents it from getting… really too easy. Comments: really excellent. Goes down a treat. So, maybe a bit dangerous. SGP:551 - 89 points.

Nah, go climb over this one. Let’s try, let’s try… Perhaps with this unusual old indie?

Tomatin 1965 (46%, The Lombard Collection, The Golfing Greats, casks #9250-9253, +/-1990)

Not too sure when this baby was bottled. Say it’s around 25 to 30 years of age. 1960s distillates were usually superlative, so we have high expectations. It’s like cars, sure Teslas or i8s are great, but I prefer a DB5, by far (oaky, okay). As they say, progress is circular, not linear, and that’s the main problem with marketers or finance executives, they’re too flat or 2D-ed. To be discussed… Colour: gold. Nose: the strict definition of sexiness in whisky. All fruits, a drop of oil (say sunflower), and a dash of vanilla powder. Right, you may want a list of the fruits. Say mangos, apples, bananas, papayas, guavas, mirabelles… Oh and yellow flowers, such as dandelions. Is that enough? Mouth: immediacy, sexiness, elegance, and yet body. All is excellent, it’s pure custard, tinned bananas, guavas, overripe pears… On the other hand, it’s no deep whisky, and I have to say it gets a little boring after just ten seconds. Especially because the oak tends to take over. It’s a s if the spirit was a little too weak. Finish: medium, and average. Fruit juices and herbal teas, with some oak and tea making it a little dry and flattish. Comments: it all started rather fantastically, but then everything just came crashing down. Good, I may be exaggerating a bit, but we’ve had much better old Tomatins. What’s sure is that the 1989 just smashes it. SGP:661 - 81 points.

Check the index of all Tomatin I've tasted so far