Tobermory 20 Years Old 1995 Cask #1094 (Valinch & Mallet)

From Valinch & Mallet comes this Tobermory, aged 20 year old from 1995, drawn from cask 1094 and bottled at 55.9%. 72 bottles in all. Tobermory is the unpeated malt of the island's only distillery, founded in 1798 by John Sinclair. Burn Stewart revived the distillery in 1993, and Distell of South Africa bought it in 2013.

The spirit was made in the high reflux stills from unpeated barley, for a fruity, waxy make with a green lift. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, soft oak that lets the waxy fruit lead. At this age it is rich and oily, the fruit folded into a waxy, honeyed body. A waxy texture carries the cask flavour across long years. Its painted home town gives the unpeated malt its name. A rare, more heavily peated make has appeared under the name Iona, after a neighbouring isle. In dry summers the distillery has paused when its hill loch ran low. The distillery sits at the head of the bay, beneath a steep wooded hill.

Bottled at a cask strength 55.9%, it is intense. Pear, oily malt and a green note, and the ex-Bourbon lends vanilla and a soft honey. Soft orchard fruit and wax sit behind the cask. It finishes fruity, oily and warming. This is the fruity side of the Isle of Mull's distillery.