top of page
Search

Tomatin 14 Port Casks

Writer's picture: S&PS&P

Our scotch exploration project has been fun in many ways. Firstly it gets us together more often. Secondly we get to explore a range and a depth of experiences. Thirdly, and less expected or at least less salient, was that there's a number of more obscure distilleries which even if they were on the shelves, we never noticed them, and now we get to discover the geography of Scotland, one distillery at a time. The most notable of these is Glendronach, but this week we learn about Tomatin, another distillery tucked away in the heart of the Highlands.


We sniff around.


Scott lands on a kind of strawberry syrup, which is pretty spot on.


Simon gets a rosé wine aroma.


Not a smooth nose for Simon, a little nostril burning. Trevor gets it too. He gets a fruity white wine kind of smell as well.


Sean gets a little malty/cereal scent. We can get there.


46% ABV.


We cheers.


A decent amount of spice. Sean calls it pepper.


Trevor says the strawberry pulls though. Simon qualifies that a bit, like a diluted strawberry concentrate drink.


Trevor says honey too. We get that.


Kyle likes the warmth.


Scott points to a decent mouthfeel.


Kyle gets a chocolate on the finish. We get it, a little bitterness. 90% cocoa Kyle says. Gotta dig for it.


Simon tries the cherry angle rather than strawberry. Some of us can kind of get there.


This is a subtle scotch, the flavors are a little muted. It still has some complexity to it. Scott says you need to be a bit of a detective on this one.


We ponder how much past experience bears on tasting notes.


The heat has died down but it's still the flavor leader.


There's a little malt/cereal on the palate.


Ratings: Trevor's pick so he starts us off. He likes that there's lots going on. He loves the nose. He goes 86. Simon goes 74. He likes port influence that comes through and the strawberry. Softer scotches lose points in his books, he likes more full flavors. That said he really likes it and would love to try it with a fruit custard tart. Scott also has 74 in mind. He likes the berry. The heat was a little off putting but not too bad. Kyle goes 76. It's a little too warm like a buffalo wings kind of heat, for the subtle flavors but it's got something unique that bumps it up a notch and it's enjoyable. Sean goes 79. He finds it very interesting and wants to come back to it later. Averages out to 77.8.


Overall: Tomatin advertises itself as the softer side of the Highlands, and that's good marketing, in the sense that it markets around a trait that's there rather than shoving some BS down your throat. It's a nice scotch, but outside of Trevor, I don't think you will find this on our shelves again. Most of us favor bold flavors, and even when we want a softer scotch, we like it with little to no heat. That said the strawberry syrup flavor rung a chord with us. On our value scale this is right at the average with 75.7, so not a bad value here. It lands at $110 CAD in Ontario.


Cheers!

The S&P Crew

34 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Hozzászólások


SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL

Thanks for submitting!

bottom of page