Tobermory 16 Years Old (MoM)

From Master of Malt comes this Tobermory, a 16 year old island malt, drawn from cask 700246 and bottled at 54.9%. Tobermory is the unpeated malt of the island's only distillery, founded in 1798 by John Sinclair. Its history is famously broken, with long silences; the buildings once held holiday lets and stored cheese.

Distilled from unpeated malt in kinked copper stills on soft Mull water, giving the oily, fruity island make. Ex-Sherry wood added a dried fruit richness to the oily make. Past a decade the fruit deepens into honey, wax and a riper orchard fruit. Years in oak round the spirit, the fruit and wax deepening with age. Burn Stewart revived production in 1993, and Distell bought the distillery in 2013. The stills carry boil bulbs and a kink in the lyne arms, which lifts the reflux. Water is drawn from a private hill loch, the Gearr Abhainn, above the town.

Undiluted at 54.9%, it is powerful. Orchard fruit, wax and a nutty note, and the Oloroso gives dried fruit and a toasted nuttiness. A baked apple and a nutty note lift it. A long, waxy finish carries a green lift. This is Tobermory, the unpeated malt of the Isle of Mull.