Tomatin Cuatro Series #3 "Oloroso" 12 Year

OK so I didn't buy the PX finished bottle (wasn't at the store I bought these at) and I'll get into as I go through this. Otherwise I'll focus on the Oloroso but this will be a side by side review. Nose - The Oloroso is drier more sherry dark fruits and less of the grape/wine element. There's a lot less butter scotch and vanilla here. Fino - butter scotch, vanilla, a bit of dark fruits, perhaps some grape/wine elements. Swirling I start to get some oak, almost buttered toast. Manzanilla has the vanilla notes but not the butter scotch. It's sweeter and there's a lot more just overall to smell here, much more intense. The Fino might be the most complex but the Oloroso is the most powerful and frankly by far my favorite. Taste - Oloroso - more spice, perhaps spicier. chocolate, dark fruits (waxy). There's more influence from the finishing I believe. Fino - Spicy, it has a good vanilla note, some nice fino notes (I know). Some fruity elements, light fruits, but spicy. Manzanilla - sweet and oily, fruity, but no distinct finishing. I could believe this was just a speyside though it's a bit too fruit forward and sweet imo to not have some finishing. My first comment is that these have incredibly improved from when i first opened them and I got nearly no finishing. That said these are still fairly bourbon forward, likely some fairly well used casks for the secondary fill. Oloroso- overall this is an interesting drinker. It's however not really for me. 12 years is a bit young for this one. I think heavier finishing would really help if they were going for 12 years old. That said I'm still really happy with this. At 60+ I'd not recommend this unless you want to do a side by side comp like this. This is a bottle that isn't getting killed this year and maybe not next. You'll note I wrote the same thing on the Fino. It's a bit too spicy and bitter for my normal profile.

To be honest so far I've been slightly disappointed with the cuatro series. The ratings are very high and from what I've tasted they are just pretty average, lighter on the finish. The fino I gave a charitable 3.75 and this I'd say the same. It has no obvious flaws, is well balanced, nice mouth feel but the flavours are weaker allowing ethanol to be the predominant flavour of the aftertaste...like it's fino brother it's not that exciting. Mild toffee yadah yadah. I think all the great drams I've had recently have ruined the tasting experience of all the average stuff which follows.

Relic 2017-12-07.