Tomatin 26 Years Old 1994 Cask #6422 + 11210 (Dramfool)

This Tomatin was from the independent bottler Dramfool, aged 26 year old from 1994, drawn from cask 6422 + 11210 and bottled at 47.7%. The outturn was 251 bottles. Set in the Highland hills south of Inverness, Tomatin has made single malt since 1897. By 1974 Tomatin ran twenty three stills and was the largest malt distillery in Scotland.

It was run through the distillery's onion stills after a long fermentation, to build a fruity, gently spiced character. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, with vanilla and a soft apple. At this age it is rounded and mellow, the fruit folded into a honeyed body. The long fermentation lays down the fruit the cask then frames. It closed in 1906 and reopened in 1909, finding its feet over the following decades. 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.

Undiluted at 47.7%, it is layered. Orchard fruit and a gentle malt, and honeyed vanilla comes through from the ex-Bourbon. Beneath it run apple, pear and a soft spice. It closes soft, fruity and warm. This is Tomatin, the fruity Highland malt.