Tomatin 125th Anniversary – Single Cask 29 Years Old 1993

A distillery bottling of Tomatin, aged 29 year old from 1993, drawn from cask 6810 and bottled at 57.3%. The outturn was 501 bottles. Tomatin is a Highland single malt distilled in the hills south of Inverness, where the distillery was founded in 1897. Today it works twelve stills, having shifted from blend volume to single malt.

The spirit was made in copper stills from unpeated barley, for a fruity, mellow make. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut. At this great age the malt is full and mellow, the fruit deep and the oak soft. Dunnage and racked warehousing on site gives a steady maturation. The Antiquary blend came into the group through the blender J and W Hardie. Malt is bought in, the distillery's own floor maltings having closed in the 1980s. For most of its life the distillery rarely ran to its full capacity. The make is light and fruity, easy to like and easy to drink.

At cask strength 57.3% it is full bodied. Pear, honey and a malty note, and the Oloroso gives dried fruit and a toasted nuttiness. It is fruity and soft, the fruit and oak well matched. The finish is rounded, honeyed and gentle. This is a soft, approachable Highland malt.