Tomatin Cù Bòcan (46% 2019)

This Cu Bocan single malt, bottled at 46%. Cù Bòcan, the peated malt of Tomatin distillery, comes from the Monadhliath hills near Inverness. The core is unpeated, with peated spirit made one week a year and bottled as Cu Bocan.

The spirit was run through the distillery's onion stills from peated barley, to build a smoky character on the fruity Tomatin spirit. A virgin oak cask gave bold vanilla, spice and a little coconut. With no age statement, it shows a soft peat smoke over fruity Tomatin spirit. Soft peat smoke and active oak settle together over the years. 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. 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.

At 46% it is smooth and fruity. Peat smoke, fruit and a sweet malt, and the virgin oak gives vanilla, baking spice and a little coconut. Soft smoke and orchard fruit sit behind the cask. The close is warm, smoke over a soft fruit. This is a soft, smoky Highland single malt.