Tomatin 8 Year (SMWS 11.43 "Forget Me Not")

 

Poor Tomatin. In the world of scotch whisky, it has such a lackluster reputation - much like Fettercairn or Aberfeldy, it's considered a quasi-disaster that tastes bad in almost every bottling, every setting. Owned by the rather elusive and unknown Takara Shuzo Corporation - which Wikipedia describes as being involved in "[...] the production of beverages, food, printing and medical supplies," - it's an absolute afterthought in the best of circumstances. 

Which is a shame, because I've had some interesting Tomatin, and even some good Tomatin - like this bottle. Here are the official notes, which will go some way to describing what's happening here: 

After three years in bourbon wood, this spent the rest of its maturation in a second fill sauternes hogshead. The nose was an exotic mélange of calvados and tawny port, amarena cherries, pomegranates and dried apricots, with a side order of marron glacé, orange blossom, leather and oak. The palate had thrilling intensity – wine-soaked wood, prunes, snapdragon raisins and dark chocolates filled with kirsch liqueur; then finishing flourishes of Sichuan pepper, sloes and a bitter red Italian apéritif. Adding water brought expensive new car, stewed plums, ripe fig and chocolate-dipped candied orange to the nose, while the palate found panettone, fruit cake and dates, with a finish of clove, leather and old roses.

Not bad, right? Seems entirely reasonable. You'd never guess that Tomatin bottles commonly featured notes like "rotten popcorn" and "salted cardboard." 

Bottled at 60.2% ABV, after 8 years in an ex-Sauternes cask. Let's see how this forgotten distillery acquits itself:

Nose: I got bright oranges, black tea, molasses/brown sugar, field herbs/grass, and vanilla. My partner got  caramel/brown sugar, ethanol, vanilla/sugar cookies. All in all, an attractive if rather simple nose. 

Sadly, I didn't get the exotic melange of calvados and tawny port, cherries, apricots, etc. ... but I did occasionally gets the merest hints of those things, so many deeper in the bottle they'll emerge. 

Mouthfeel: silky, thin

Palate: LOTS of alcohol burn, followed by orange, chocolate, vanilla, oak, and caramel. Robust development. I sort of get the raisins/chocolate notes, but I don't really see the cherry, pepper, sloe berries, etc. Again maybe deeper in the bottle. 

Finish: Warming finish, medium length: oak, pepper, brown sugar, cherries. Finally! There are the cherries. 

Vedict: Entirely reasonable. I feel like the core Tomatin spirit here has been completely dominated by the Sauternes, but in a positive way: the flavors here are rich and accessible and nothing is off-putting, off-balance, or otherwise unpleasant.