Tomatin 1988 OB – 46%

“Tomatin are delighted to announce the addition of a 1988 Vintage expression to our core range. This expression will be released in batches.

The contents have been vatted from a combination of ex-Bourbon and ex-Port casks.”

Colour: Straw, clean and clear.

Nose: Old and packed with bourbon maturation goodness. There’s overly ripe bananas and soft tropical notes together with a sweet fudge quality.

Palate: Massively silky smooth on the palate, with the introduction of thick oils. There’s a nice age to this which makes it lovely and delicate, the slight summer citrus is there along with the ripe banana flavours.

Finish: Slight puffs of smoke (from the casks?), and massive malt notes, which was a surprise with the age of the dram. There’s cask oak, which feels neither old or new, it just is, and it’s balanced and tasty. The finish is deeply warming and long.

Water: Thins the delicate nose even further. And dulls the ripe bananas allowing other younger sweeter fruit notes through, all in all a wee drop isn’t a bad idea at all and makes it a touch more like Tomatin’s you will recognise.

Thoughts: A great addition to the core range. It replaces the 30yo (now discontinued); it’s a great dram in it’s own right and not really directly comparable. If you find the 30yo then buy it, but once it’s gone then grab a bottle of this as you’ll not be disappointed, it’s lovely stuff!

Update: The price of the 30yr is going up quite quickly, the 1988 is now generally cheaper than it, so go for that… but the 30yr is still a fab dram, so grab it if you can find and afford.

Available: The Whisky Exchange – £160

Thanks to Tomatin for the sample!