Tomintoul Five Decades / Bot.2015 / 50th Anniversary

The Tomintoul distillery is quite young. It was only founded in 1965. So in 2015 she celebrated her 50th birthday. This Five Decades was bottled to celebrate that milestone. And like the name suggests, this whisky is composed with Tomintoul from 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995 and 2005. Surely you understand why they declined putting an age statement on the label. And of course it was cut to 50%. Some thought went into this. The nose is very aromatic and rich. I get sweet fruit – tropical to say the least – and a nice mix of nuts (walnuts in the lead), but it also offers up cigar box. Filled with top notch cigars, mind you. Raisins and plums appear, but are soon overtaken by oranges and Turkish Delight. And as if that is not yet enough, I also get some woodsmoke and a dusty edge. A bit old school, if you know what I mean. Yes, go on then, call this complex. For it is! It is nicely creamy, a touch waxy and a bit spicy. The oak is very present. But on the palate too, it is a wonderful panoply of flavor, revealing a huge influence of sherry casks. Loads of nuts, again, but also banana and coconuts. Ginger, nutmeg and pepper are the spices on duty. This is very, very nice. The finish is long, mildly drying and very spicy. It leaves me at bit bewildered… This is only my 15th Tomintoul, but certainly up there with the best. It will, however, set you back around 400 EUR… which is not cheap, of course.

Find where to buy Tomintoul whisky