The Antiquary 21 Year Old – (Tomatin) – 43%
Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2013 – 93/100

This is an exclusive blend which combines fine Speyside and Highland malt with a splash of Islay and the fragrance of Lowland grains to create a truly exceptional whisky. All the whiskies used in this blend are at least 21 years old – and together they deliver a taste of unrivalled sophistication.

Official tasting notes are…

Nose – Fresh and invigorating, very malty sweet treacle toffee with hints of bitter orange and lemon.

Palate – Full and smooth with a warming syrupy sweetness, burst of malty flavours. Very long satisfying heather honeyed aftertaste.

Finish – Dry oak spice finish

My Personal Notes…

This is most certainly mit farbstoff (coloured), as every other blend seems to be, it’s golden, but not too much so, in fact with the whiskies all being over 21 years old then it’s likely there’s some good natural colour in here anyways.

Rich nose, a touch woody, slightly spirited with some malt and grain. Sherry fruits but also some trademark Tomatin summer fruits. A nice grown up and classy nose.

Very smooth and creamy on the palate, fairly thick, with some spices slowly hitting after a few moments before sweet malty notes cover your whole mouth in glorious sweet whisky flavours.

The finish is subtle (I guess you’d expect that from a 21yo), but also fruity and a little oaky. There’s a lovely warming feeling over your chest on what is quite a long finish, with the smallest touch of freshness washing across your palate.

All in all this is a lovely blend, smooth, layered and well matured to offer a calming dram that is easy to sit with all night long, top notch stuff and highly deserving of the various awards that it’s won and the high score from Jim Murray.

The bottle comes in a nice box, and is an interesting shape. It has a plastic pouring thing in the top that’s usually used in bars to help stop air getting back into the bottle if the lid is left off. It’s a bit of a pain in the arse, but you soon get used to it. You need to shake the bottle a wee bit when pouring to release a valve or nothing much comes out.

Available from Master Of Malt – £75.24