Here’s another sample from the group of friends that have joined me in trying to claim a pour from every active distillery in Scotland. This sample is from a not very well known distillery: Tormore. It’s an independent bottling from Berry Bros & Rudd, out of the U.K. and it’s a well-aged example, at 21 years old. This one is cask strength at 54%. I believe my friend Jason paid around $120 for this bottle. Let’s see if it was worth it... In the tasting glass it’s a beautiful, shimmering gold. There’s lots of super thin, runny legs that leave behind really tiny, watery beads after you roll it around the Glencairn. The nose opens with a very mature smelling oak: it’s weathered and worn. Some nice florals appear before the sweetness sinks in. I’m getting faint, Gala apple slices and a nice hit of pineapple. It bounces around between tropical and sherry sweet constantly. It’s very inviting. On the tongue, sherry sweetness and a bit of acidity open the proceedings. Luscious melons, like cantaloupe and honeydew, coat the tongue and linger on with honeysuckle florals. After a bit of a “chew” the ABV takes over and causes a much hotter back end that wasn’t detectable early on. At 54%, I cant say I was surprised but since it didn’t hit until later on it did put a blemish on what was a very good experience to this point. The finish is pretty hot and dry, but thankfully a lot of the fruity melon notes linger on and on long enough for me to consider it quite a lengthy ending. Pluses here. Overall, it’s a very good dram. I think the use of a higher quality barrel would’ve led to a near-perfect score. It’s well aged and from a very obscure distillery. The biggest box it checks is that this bottling makes me want to look for other official bottles from Tormore to try. Thanks again, @Telex. A solid 4 star dram. Cheers, my friends.