Tomatin 21 Years Old 1999 Winter 2020 (The Whisky Agency)

The Whisky Agency selected this Tomatin matured to 21 year old from 1999 and bottled at 52.4%. Just 311 bottles were filled. Tomatin is the soft, fruity Highland malt of a distillery founded in 1897 near Inverness. Today it works twelve stills, having shifted from blend volume to single malt.

The spirit was distilled from unpeated malt in copper stills on Allt na Frithe water, giving the light, mellow spirit at its heart. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, soft oak that lets the fruit lead. Past twenty years the spirit turns honeyed and full while staying soft. Years in oak round the spirit, the orchard fruit deepening with age. Cold, clean water runs down to the distillery from the hills above. Under Japanese stewardship the focus turned from sheer volume to quality. The very long fermentation is central to the distillery's fruity character. The distillery sits beside the A9, the old road north to Inverness.

Bottled at a cask strength 52.4%, it is rich. Apple, pear and a soft honey, and the refill bourbon lends a quiet vanilla. The mouthfeel is soft, the fruit carried on a mellow body. A long, honeyed finish carries a fruity lift. This is a mellow Highland single malt from near Inverness.