Tobermory 26 Years Old 1995 Cask #C21002 (Claxton’s)

Claxton's bottled this Tobermory, a 26 year old release from 1995, drawn from cask C21002 and bottled at 52%. The outturn was 436 bottles. Tobermory is the fruity, unpeated side of the only distillery on the Isle of Mull. The distillery makes two malts: the unpeated Tobermory and the peated Ledaig.

It was distilled from unpeated malt in kinked copper stills on soft Mull water, giving the oily, fruity island make. Maturation in sherry laid dried fruit over the fruit. At this age it is rich and oily, the fruit folded into a waxy, honeyed body. Years in oak round the spirit, the fruit and wax deepening with age. 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. In dry summers the distillery has paused when its hill loch ran low.

At cask strength 52% it is muscular. Orchard fruit, wax and a nutty note, and the Oloroso adds figgy fruit and a warm nuttiness. A baked apple and a nutty note lift it. A long, oily finish ends on orchard fruit. This is Tobermory, the unpeated malt of the Isle of Mull.