Tobermory 21 Years Old 1995 Cask #2300000020 (Spirits Salon)

From Spirits Salon comes this Tobermory matured to 21 year old from 1995, drawn from cask 2300000020 and bottled at 49.2%. The outturn was 119 bottles. Tobermory is the fruity, unpeated side of the only distillery on the Isle of Mull. Ledaig, the old name kept for the peated malt, means safe haven in Gaelic.

It was distilled from unpeated malt in kinked copper stills on soft Mull water, giving the oily, fruity island make. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanilla beneath the fruit. Beyond twenty years the malt grows deep and waxy, honey, dried fruit and nut over old oak. 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.

At 49.2%, undiluted, it is rich and deep. Orchard fruit, wax and a nutty note, and honeyed vanilla comes through from the ex-Bourbon. Beneath it run orchard fruit, wax and a soft nut. It finishes fruity, oily and warming. This is Tobermory, the unpeated malt of the Isle of Mull.