Another Blackadder Raw Cask independent bottle for me, I got a good deal on this: a 10 year Tomatin entirely matured in a first fill Pedro Ximenez sherry cask. Yes, the whisky really is that dark directly from the cask: this being a Raw Cask, there is no coloring or filtration of any kind whatsoever, and there are myriad pieces of the cask swirling around the bottle.
Speaking of Blackadder, I managed to turn up this little nugget online:
"Blackadder International was established in 1995 by Robin Tucek who, together with daughter Hannah and son Michael runs the family business. Robin Tucek is also co-author with John Lamond of The Malt Whisky File – one of the most respected books about malt whisky."
Meanwhile, Tomatin is a distillery I have a mixed relationship with. I hated their pre-2015 rebrand distillate, which had off-putting notes of rancid popcorn and cardboard. I found the post-2015 stuff much more appealing and well-balanced, but still a little imperfect, with a finish that barely existed and not as much complexity as I wanted to see.
Then earlier this year I had their cask strength offering, and it was... Good. Very good! Rich, sweet, layered, punchy, interesting. A worthy whisky. Owned by a Japanese company that produces massive amounts of the liquor Shochu, I feel like Tomatin is only on the radar of real whisky nerds and budget hunters (often the same thing).
So I really don't know what to expect from this independent bottle from Blackadder. Matured ten years entirely in a cask that formerly held the richest, most syrupy sherry (PX), I suspect that the sherry is going to drive this bottle very heavily and there won't be many notes originating in the Tomatin spirit at all. This is pretty common with heavily sherried whiskies, and not necessarily a bad thing. With a huge cask involvement, you just want the whisky to complement it, fill in the gaps as it were.
A final note on these mysterious "Dram Hunter USA Exclusive" selections that I found online:
A Dram Hunter Selection by Raj Sabharwal, a USA-exclusive single barrel. This whisky has been fully matured in a hogshead PX Sherry Cask.
A little Googling revealed the following profile:
https://whiskiesoftheworld.com/raj-sabharwal/ which reveals Mr Sabharwal to be a importer who owns Glass Revolution and is a fairly diehard fan of the finer spirits. Interesting! So presumably the 16 year Ledaig I just had recently as well as this bottle are his responsibilities. Noted.
Let's get on with it:
Nose: Whoa - unexpected things are wafting from this glass. I expected raisins and figs and other syrupy PX flavors. What I'm getting is ... DENSE funky mushroom umami, barbecue sauce, roasted or charred dates, rich veins of honey (honey barbecue?), and wood spices (nutmeg, cloves).
After letting this sit and settle for a while, it gets sweeter: walnuts in a thick raisin syrup, very old polished wood, Coca Cola, more sauteed mushrooms in butter.
With even MORE time: straight up ketchup or tomato stew, and even hints of rosemary and truffle oil. This is dense, heady stuff.
With a splash of water to unpack it: A more classical sherried scotch here: raisins, figs, dates, red fruit rollups, cola cubes, walnuts and cashews, and honey. Less of the funkier stuff.
Mouthfeel: Thick and oily, like every Blackadder. Very heavy.
Palate: Dark: black plums, black bread toast, barbecue sauce, spiced honey, cola, mushroom sherry gravy, grape candy. What's interesting is a very firm development from sweet grape and fig to a malty mushroomy toast at the end - it's amazing, you can actually taste the transition from sherry cask influence to spirit influence on the tongue.
With water to spread things around a bit: Same as above - more of a classical sherry bomb: raisin, fig, barbecue sauce, Coca Cola, hints of malt, old wood, spices, herbs. Still very rich, but sweeter with water. Less outright earthy funk.
Finish: Light smoke (!), mushrooms, herbs, barbecue sauce, charred dates, and lots of old wood. Not the longest finish, but well put-together.
Verdict: An unexpectedly fantastic whisky. I should have expected this, since I already have come to adore these Blackadder Raw Cask bottles, but the Tomatin angle created uncertainty. I got this on sale, in fact, because no one was touching it (hard for Tomatin to compete in a crowded market, I guess). The shopkeep straight up told me "No one looks twice at Tomatin."
But wow, this blows away most other full sherry maturation whiskies I've had. It's a dense, dark, umami-soaked ride full of mushrooms, figs, char, barbecue, and old wood - a little like the Bowmore 15 used to be, but better, a thicker mouthfeel. Fantastic stuff. They didn't bottle very much of this one, but if you find it in the wild, get it. Thanks to Raj Sabharwal!
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