Tomatin 13 Years Old

This Tomatin, an official release, aged 13 year old and bottled at 43%. Tomatin, founded in 1897 in the Highland village of the same name, was once Scotland's largest malt distillery. The distillery was founded in 1897 by a local company, taking its name from the village, Gaelic for hill of the juniper.

The spirit was run through the distillery's onion stills after a long fermentation, to build a fruity, gently spiced character. Maturation in a sherry cask laid dried fruit over the fruit. Past a decade the fruit deepens into honey, apple and a soft spice. The long fermentation lays down the fruit the cask then frames. The very long fermentation is central to the distillery's fruity character. The distillery sits beside the A9, the old road north to Inverness. Cu Bocan focuses on unusual cask finishes, from sherry to wine and beyond. Tomatin stands at over three hundred metres, among the highest in the land.

Reduced to 43%, it is soft. Orchard fruit and a gentle malt, and the Oloroso gives dried fruit and a toasted nuttiness. Soft orchard fruit and honey sit behind the cask. The close is soft, fruit over gentle oak. This is Tomatin's soft, fruity Highland style.