Tobermory distillery is the only distillery on the Isle of Mull, a nice little island of West of Mainland Scotland. It is also one of the distilleries that can proudly claim to be founded in the 18th century, 1798 to be exact. Interestingly, Tobermory distillery also produces a heavier, peated version of their whisky under the name Ledaig, making it one of the distilleries that boasts more than one whisky name under their belt.
But that's the little background of the distillery, how is Tobermory here in Singapore? It is distributed by Planet Spirits, and is found at the Quaich Bar and The Auld Alliance. The expressions are pretty straightforward, a 10YO, 15YO and the 32YO. Last month, Quaich had Tobermory as its whisky of the month, and SGwhisky decided it was a great time to go down and give these whiskies a shot. So here's introducing Tobermory distillery's whiskies!
Name: Tobermory 10YO
Distillery: Tobermory (Island)
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Age Statement: 10YO
Alc/Vol: 46.3%
The entry level expression of the Tobermory range is the 10YO, which recently got a facelift and was bottled at a higher alcoholic percentage. It was a light and easy to drink whisky, but it was too light for my own liking
Nose: Very salty and creamy, almost like pure peanut butter. Slightly grassy. (20)
Taste/Palate: Quite bland, a touch of sweetness and saltiness but overall slightly more sweet. (19)
Finish: Like fruit and rose water are the more prominent notes, but overall the finish is quite flat as well (18)
Overall: The nose was interesting and promising but the taste and the finish are frankly a bit too weak and simple. (19) 76/100
Found at: Quaich Bar
Name: Tobermory 15YO
Distillery: Tobermory (Islands)
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Age Statement: 15YO
Alc/Vol: 46.3%
Nose: A richer and more alluring saltiness with notes of red fruit and the slightest hint of sweet citrus. Very nice and pleasant (23)
Taste/Palate: Slight smokiness playing with a real rich salty sweetness at first. Carries on with a dryness of the oak. Fades a bit too quickly though (20)
Finish: Winey finish with notes of green grapes and white fruit (pear?) (20)
Overall: Much better than the 10YO but still seems to offer much more on the nose than it delivers. Nicely balanced though (21) 84/100
Found at: Quaich Bar
Name: Tobermory 32YO
Distillery: Tobermory (Islands)
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Age Statement: 32YO
Vintage: 1972 (Bottled 2005)
Bottle No: 147/902
Alc/Vol: 50.1%
Nose: Ooohh.... peanut butter and chocolate milkshake (notes of cream, salt and rich chocolate). Raisins and brandied fruits show a real sweet sherry influence, all combining for a really beautiful nose! (24)
Taste/Palate: Salty sweet entry like the 10 and 15YO, but far more complex this time. The sweetness is reminiscent of juicy plums, licorice and sugar cane. The sweetness carries on with a light touch of pepper and anise (23)
Finish: Rich berries bring up a pure, light fruity and formal end that is very long and lingering. Extremely pleasant as well! (23)
Overall: This was definitely the stand out of the three drams, and for good reason. A beautiful all-rounder (23) 93/100
Found at: Quaich Bar, The Auld Alliance
How about this Most Peated Whisky? You might ask.... well, to add a nice little extra to this piece, here is SGwhisky's take on the world's most peated whisky, The Octomore Orpheus.
The brainchild of Bruichladdich Master Blender Jim McEwan, the Octomore Orpheus is touted as the world's most peated whisky. The unit of measurement of the smoke (the phenols in the smoke to be exact) that is used to dry the barley and give it that smoky flavour is measured by Parts Per Million, and it is the concentration of the phenols that Bruichladdich has tried to push the boundaries of. This expression of the Octomore had a peat level of 140ppm, which at that time was the highest in any whisky (the third edition of the Octomore has since superseded this version, reaching 152ppm). Just to give everyone a sense of perspective, Ardbeg's classic 10YO whisky has a peat level of around 24ppm, and Lagavulin's peat level is believed to be around 50ppm. This makes this Octomore a behemoth in terms of peat levels. But that's not all, the Octomore is also finished in Chateau Petrus casks and bottled at a ridiculous strength of 61%. This makes it highly peated, winey and very strong on paper.
So for you peat freaks out there SGwhisky presents the Octomore Orpheus 02.2!
Name: Octomore Orpheus 02.2 (Finished in Chateau Petrus casks)
Distillery: Bruichladdich (Islay)
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Age Statement: 5YO
Alc/Vol: 61%
Nose: Strong fruity and winey notes with a sweet ham smoke. An interesting aroma of stale fish though. After a while it develops some notes of citrus and unripe fruit (20)
Taste/Palate: Sweet, very very sweet. Syrup and some preserved fish. Powerful and rich but not very complex (21)
Finish: The sweetness transforms to reveal a richer note of Chinese dark sweet sauce (the ones used in Fried Carrot Cake) and a note of soya sauce. Sweet ashy smoke. Interesting (23)
Overall: The whisky itself is pretty one dimensional, but it is good for what it promises to be delivering. I personally enjoyed the interesting finish (21) 85/100
Found at: The Auld Alliance
Coming up soon.... The Silver Seal Tasting Notes!
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