Tobermory 20 Years Old 1995 Cask #5 (Murray McDavid)

A Tobermory single malt, selected and bottled by Murray McDavid, aged 20 year old from 1995, drawn from cask 5 and bottled at 46%. 350 bottles in all. Tobermory is the fruity, unpeated side of the only distillery on the Isle of Mull. The stills carry boil bulbs and an S shaped kink in the lyne arms, which raises reflux.

Drawn off stills with their S shaped lyne arms, for a medium bodied, fruity spirit. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanilla beneath the fruit. Past twenty years the spirit turns honeyed and waxy while keeping its fruit. Long maturation turns the green young spirit towards honey and ripe fruit. 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. 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.

At 46% it is soft and deep. Green apple, citrus and a herbal lift, and honeyed vanilla comes through from the ex-Bourbon. It is fruity and full, the oily spirit shining through. The close is long, fruit over a soft oak. This is Tobermory's oily, unpeated island single malt.