Tomintoul Tweet Tasting

I've not come across any Tomintoul whiskies before other than Old Ballantruan in an earlier Tweet Tasting, so when the opportunity arose to apply for a special on-line event featuring their 21 Year Old and single cask 1981 Vintage I completed my application and kept my fingers crossed.

The core Tomintoul range consists of nine expressions (yes nine!) with the Ten and Sixteen year old expressions representing the original bedrock of the portfolio.

The Tomintoul distillery is a fairly new distillery, being built in the mid 1960's and is located near to the village of Tomintoul, in the Glenlivet Estate at Ballantruan on the east side of the River Avon and in the valley between the Glenlivet Forest and the hills of Cromdale.

The event was scheduled for 29th May and this was the first time Tomintoul had ever hosted a tweet tasting. Master Distiller Robert Fleming was our guide and on hand to answer any of our questions, as well as ask a few of his own. With the event set to start at 7pm under the #Tom1981 hashtag we started with their 21 Year Old

Whisky Discovery #446

Tomintoul 21 Year Old (40% abv)

Speyside Single Malt

Circa £60.00 70cl

Not a bad way to start your introduction to Tomintoul single malts eh? The Tomintoul 21 years old was introduced in 2011 to bridge the gap between the 16 and 33 years old versions, and apparently replaced the 27 year old - Tomintoul seem to like their aged whiskies!

Robert told us that casks selected from refill bourbon and refill hogsheads (matured all of its life at Tomintoul Distillery) were used for the make-up of this expression, and went on to say that Jim Murray had awarded this a score of 93.5 in his 2013 Whisky Bible.

In addition to asking how we felt about the whisky Robert asked us to think back 21 years and reflect on what we were doing back then. 

In 1992 I was working in Thailand and had just completed my first year there - many happy memories of pioneering super-yacht building in the Far East, as well as meeting my wife (we had not long started dating in 1992)

So What Did I Think?

The nose comes across as creamy and sweet. It's malty with a hint of cloves, alongside notes of vanilla, honey, wet grass, stewed fruits; apples and pears, fudge and pencil shavings

On the palate it has a soft and creamy smooth mouth filling feel. Vanilla sweetness opens which is followed by a gentle spice build up of white pepper. As the spice fades creamy toffee returns, and there is a barley water like taste too. The medium length finish gives a spicy kick on the tongue before becoming quite dry.

This come across as a very simple dram which surprised me for a 21 year old, as I guess was expecting more levels of complexity from the palate due to it's age. Don't get me wrong though, although it came across as simple to me it is exceedingly drinkable (although I only had a wee sample of it). It's very gentle in it's approach, though remains fresh throughout.

What did the others think?
@galg: Nose : lovely vanilla strawberry ice cream with some wood, apples
@ ifotou: Nose: slightly oaky to start with then fruit and fizz, refreshers/wham bars, fresh vanilla pods rolled in dewy grass
@mynameisgone: Taste, smooth fruity and gentle but with a touch of spice warming as it coats the mouth
@steveprentice: The palate is smooth and easy going, due both to the good middle age of this whisky and to the low ABV. It's got a medium oily mouth feel, with just a pinch of spices. The oak notes on the nose aren't quite so obvious here, but it's wonderfully fruity and easy going.
@TIA568B: On the palate is incredibly smooth, but slightly thick and reminds me of rum for some reason? Lots of toffee and caramel, yummy
@dvdbloke: Finish - Warming Oak spices. Sweet, then drying into some light oak sawdust

Whisky Discovery #445

Tomintoul 1981 Vintage Cask #5985 31 Year Old (53.9% abv)

Speyside Single Malt

Circa £225.00 70cl

This is Tomintoul's first Vintage Single Cask release. Distilled on the 30th of October 1981 and matured for over 31 years in a bourbon cask (Cask No. 5985 for the record), being bottled in February 2013, at cask strength of 53.9% abv yielding just 196 bottles, with no artificial colouring or chill filtration.

This comes in a rather splendid looking bottle, which would look lovely on my whisky shelf!

Again Robert asked us to reflect back to what we were doing back in 1981 and I can tell you I was in the first year of my shipbuilding apprenticeship on the South Coast of England. I can spin you a yarn or two from those days too!

So What Did I Think?

Well this is much spicier that the gentle 21 Year Old. It's peppery with a touch of salt at first, then the wood notes start to evolve after a short while, like well soaked oak. I started to find some melon sweetness are trying to pierce through the peppery spices. However once the alcohol burn subsides there is a wealth of rich dark chocolate notes. With a drop or two of water the pepper is tamed and the vanilla notes came first, followed by some linseed oil and candied orange peel.

The palate is rich as I was expecting, with polished wood, spicy pepper, licorice, and cloves too, finishing with a very spicy finish leaving a chilli heat when when pressing my tongue to the roof of my mouth, though remains rich to the very end.

What did the others think?

@Girl_Whisky: Nose: Nice peppery, subtle yet complex ... and a hint of salty stones?
@rickfurzer: Nose: polish gives way to peaches and custard, then peaches give way to green apples with addition of water
@WorldWhiskyDay: I'm getting really nice heathery honey on the nose of this! With a bit of a citrusy note too!
@whiskywardrobe: Quite floral, with lovely spices and citrus notes. If I nose deeper, figs 
@manavsoni: With water, beautiful polished wood and stewed tropical fruit
@LaCaveDeCobalt: It's warming with notes of coconut and liquorice on the tongue. Still this light bitterness at the end

The verdict was fairly evenly split when choosing favourites. For me the single cask won hands down, but at £225 is a little way out of my price range so my head is telling me to choose the 21 Year Old.

Tomintoul is known as the 'Gentle Dram' and that is clearly evident in this first tasting of their core range. I certainly need to try more of their range and will be putting them on my list to find for one of the forthcoming whisky events I normally find myself drawn to!

As per previous Tweet Tastings there was a great deal of tweeting going on and to see what happened search on the #Tom1981 hashtag on twitter for the full story! (I downloaded all of the tweets from the evening and have them on a spreadsheet if you are interested)

Another great experience and a fabulous introduction to Tomintoul Whisky. Thanks to Master Distiller Robert Fleming and everyone at the Tomintoul Distillery @TomintoulWhisky

As far as I can tell, this events tweet tasters were: @TomintoulWhisky @JayDieNL @whiskywardrobe @manavsoni @steveprentice @ dvdbloke @TIA568B @Girl_Whisky @mynameisgone @galg @ifotou @WhiskyDiscovery @MattonMalt @LaCaveDeCobalt @Hmcnee @headwalluk @ubern @rickfurzer @WorldWhiskyDay @mike_rawlins

To keep abreast of what is happening at the Tomintoul Distillery why not follow them on Twitter: @TomintoulWhisky 

You can also find more information on their website: www.tomintouldistillery.co.uk

Old Ballantruan Tweet Tasting

A rather special Tweet Tasting organised by Steve Rush of The Whisky Wire and Tomintoul Distillery to launch the rare peated Speyside Single Malt, Old Ballantruan 10 Year Old Single Malt. Alongside Steve was Master Distiller Robert Fleming from the Tomintoul Distillery.

Old Ballantruan is made in the Tomintoul Distillery within part of the most famous Scotch whisky producing region, “Speyside Glenlivet” using peated malt barley. It's unusual to find a heavily peated malt whisky from Speyside. The Old Ballantruan whiskies contain the smoky phenolic notes that are associated with Islay malts while in the background are sweet notes that characterise the Speyside region.

Old Ballantruan is made using heavily-peated malt barley with a total phenol content of 55 ppm (parts per million). This sits at about the same level as some of the peatiest Islay malts, whereas the most delicately peated malts may have a ppm content of as low as 2 or 3.

The tasting samples came beautifully packaged, with the two bottles nestling in a bed of hay within the 'Old Ballantruan' marked box, which had been carefully tied with string.

So promptly at seven o'clock, Steve and Robert kicked of the evenings educational entertainment. These two whiskies certainly qualified as new whisky discoveries for me and from the pre-tasting banter on Twitter, Old Ballantruan was a new experience for many of the tasting panel.

Ready for the Tweet Tasting kick-off

Whisky Discovery #214

Old Ballantruan NAS (50% abv)
Speyside Glenlivet Peated Single Malt Whisky
circa £32.50 70cl

The Original' Old Ballantruan'

For our first dram of the evening we started with the standard Old Ballantruan, a no age statement whisky, that has been around for just over ten years being first produced in 2001 as an experiment at the Tomintoul Distillery. 

It is bottled at roughly five or six years of age from a mixture of  refill hogsheads and refill barrels, at 50% abv without any chill-filtration.

Robert told us that the peat used not sourced near the sea hence more burnt wood notes than medicinal notes would be expected

So what did I think?

On the nose I was getting stable straw/hay, musty peat, fresh firm strawberries, there was a light BBQ smokiness and sweet caramel toffee drifting in and out. With a drop of water the strawberries ripen!

On the palate it was smooth and peppery, but not overly so. There was a sweet smokiness, orange peel and charcoal notes. There's an immediate pepper blast on the long finish which turns salty with an earthy peat taste with cumulates in a coffee bitterness.

Some of my favourite tweets for Old Ballantruan:

@whiskyrepublic Pungent, thick, overripe bananas

‏@WhiskyTasting The smell of a big damp warehouse or cricket store at the end of winter... 

@TIA568B Strong peat notes, cereal malty character, I think there's a bit of creaminess in there some where, quite meaty - BBQ and some hay

‏@LRWhisky It is very sweet and smoky, almost like burnt damp wood with heather on 

@RMWEdinburgh Good nose! Plenty of sweet cream and smoky peat but what really hits is strawberry yoghurt

@KirstyPryde1 Peatier then I expected, very smooth, very little burn, soft vanilla, caramelly sweetness 

Whisky Discovery #215

Old Ballantruan 10 Year Old (50% abv)
Speyside Peated Single Malt Whisky
circa £46.00 70cl

The new 10 Year Old

We then moved on to the headline dram of the evening, and tasted the recently released 10 year old. Again this has been matured in selected oak casks and bottled at 50% abv without chill-filtration in order to maintain it's layered and integrated peaty flavours.

Robert informed us that Faemussach peat is used for the 10 Year Old with malt kilned in Kirkcaldy. The same cask types are used, refill hogsheads and barrels, but the longer maturation mellows the peat slightly. 

Official Tasting Notes:
Colour: Rich gold
Nose: Gently spicy with smoky “peat-reek” deliciously balanced by a sweeter creamy core 
Palate: Some gentle peaty smokiness equipoised with a sweet, creamy, malty backbone
Finish: Climbing finish of sweetness gradually replaced with smoky depth

So what did I think?

It's amazing what the extra years in the casks has done to this peated spirit. This was much lighter on the nose with lemon notes almost floral and very delicate.

On the palate I was getting creamy lemon cheesecake  complete with the malty digestive biscuits. There was light peppery kick at the very end, with the smokiness of the peated spirit only coming through in the finish.

I went back to the remainder of my sample a few days later. Again I poured both drams and decoded I should nose the 10 Year Old first this time. The peated whisky is more evident second time around and without the Original dominating my senses first. It is still much more delicate that the Original and I'm still getting the lemon cheesecake, but the gentle peat-reek is definitely there now, drifting across the vanilla and creamy core.

Some of my favourite tweets for Old Ballantruan 10 Year Old:

@WhiskyTasting Golly this is totally different. Drier, more Autumnal, far less coastal. This could go either way
@the_josephellis I'm getting smoked mangoes on the nose!! Do smoked mangoes even 
@MasterOfMaltAM softer and sweeter definitely, i'm getting some stem ginger also, with some bread on the side
‏@KirstyPryde1 autumn leaves, on a crisp day, toffee apples and damp, peat and horses breath 

‏@ifotou Nose sweet and mellow a little white wine like, more hay and wheat some smoked campfire smells mixed with fleshy fruits

@themisswhisky On palate: white grape juice, buttered toast, cardboard from cereal box, ‏@TIA568B Really creamy lemon curd, delicate sweetness, homemade shortbread (corners), saltiness still there, but died down almost baking soda 

As per previous Tweet Tastings there was a great deal of tweeting going on and to see what happened search on the #OB10TT hashtag on twitter for the full story!

Yet another great experience and another highlight of my whisky journey, registering a fabulous four new ‘discoveries’ A massive THANK YOU to Steve Rush at @TheWhiskyWire and to Robert Fleming and everyone at the Tomintoul Distillery @TomintoulWhisky

This events tweet tasters were: @TheWhiskyWire @TheMissWhisky @MasterOfMaltAM @WhiskyDiscovery @ifotou @rodbodtoo @LRWhisky @WhiskyRepublic @theWhiskyReview @WhiskyTasting @steveprentice @galg @EdinburghWhisky @TIA568B @Whisky_Demon @Saint_Jimmy @KirstyPryde1 @TWSYork @the_josephellis @fr1day

If you want to be included in the next Tweet Tasting make sure you are following @TheWhiskyWire on Twitter to find out what is happening.

For more information see: http://www.thewhiskywire.com and for information about Old Ballantruan Whisky see http://www.angusdundee.co.uk/content/ballantruan.htm