Review 194: Tomatin 18

Concluding the Tomatin vertical with the 18 year old! Tomatin proudly states that this whisky is non-chill-filtered.

Tomatin 18

Color: Amber +0

ABV: 46%

Aroma Neat:
Meaty Sherry, Grape Must (more musty than grapey), Molasses, Dried Figs/Dates, Green Pears, Oiled Leather, Gunpowder Solvent, Copper, Apricots.

Classic Oloroso sherry nose, which indeed is the cask type used to finish this whisky. It's not a sherry monster though, this is still recognizably whisky on the nose; that's for the better, in my opinion.

Aroma Water:
Dried Figs, Raisins, Rubber, Nectarines (a delicious surprise!), Tinned Peaches, Cream of Barley, Spicy Wood Smoke (hickory),  Apple Strudel. 

Worlds better with a half teaspoon of water (into about 20ml). Much cleaner and more balanced, with some barley coming through.

Taste Neat:
Dirty Sherry, Matchstick Sulfur/Gunpowder Solvent, Tinny, Cherry Cough Drops, Copper, Varnish, Damp Oak. 

For some reason, I expected Tomatin to be a very cleanly sherried whisky. That is to say, a whisky with no trace of sulfur. That doesn't seem to be the case and this dram carries a distinctly sulfury edge. It reminds me of certain Karuizawas or Mortlachs.

Taste Water:
Sappy Oak, Barrel-Aged Honey, Dusty Oak, Spicy (tame nutmeg and bags of other), Tar, Copper,

Tomatins swim well! With water this dram cleaned up its act and gained a ton of complexity.


Finish:
Varnish, Cough Drops, Damp Oak, Tinned Pears, Cherry, Meaty Sherry, Wax.

Very nice finish.
 
Conclusion:
Well rounded sherry dram, but drinks younger than its age, like it's younger 12 and 15 yo brothers.

Rating: 84/100

Josh