Tobermory 27 Years Old 1996 Cask #TB9624 (Hidden Spirits)

From Hidden Spirits comes this Tobermory, a 27 year old island malt from 1996, drawn from cask TB9624 and bottled at 47.6%. Tobermory is the fruity, unpeated side of the only distillery on the Isle of Mull. Burn Stewart revived the distillery in 1993, and Distell of South Africa bought it in 2013.

The spirit was drawn off stills with their S shaped lyne arms, for a medium bodied, fruity spirit. A refill bourbon cask held it, keeping the fruit to the fore. Past twenty years the spirit turns honeyed and waxy while keeping its fruit. Sea air works into the island maturation, lending a faint saline lift. Burn Stewart revived production in 1993, and Distell bought the distillery in 2013. 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.

At 47.6%, undiluted, it is rich and deep. Green apple, citrus and a herbal lift, and the refill bourbon lends a quiet vanilla. The texture is oily and waxy, the fruit threaded through. A long, waxy finish carries a green lift. This is Tobermory's oily, unpeated island single malt.