Tomatin 15 Years Old 2008 The Alba Trail (Alba Import)

This is a Tomatin, chosen and bottled by Alba Import, a 15 year old release from 2008 and bottled at 46%. Tomatin is the soft, fruity Highland malt of a distillery founded in 1897 near Inverness. Water comes from the Allt na Frithe, the burn of the deer, in the Monadhliath hills.

It was run through the distillery's onion stills after a long fermentation, to build a fruity, gently spiced character. A refill bourbon cask held it, keeping the fruit to the fore. Mid age brings a deeper honey and a riper orchard fruit. The soft, fruity spirit takes cask character readily across maturation. Tomatin stands at over three hundred metres, among the highest in the land. An old cattle drovers' road ran through Tomatin, and whisky was made here long before the distillery. The arrival of the Highland Railway in the 1890s made the distillery possible. It closed in 1906 and reopened in 1909, finding its feet over the following decades.

Reduced to 46%, it is soft. Orchard fruit and a gentle malt, and ex-Bourbon oak gives vanilla and a light apple. A baked apple and a gentle spice lift it. It finishes soft, fruity and clean. This is the softer side of the Highlands.