Soba45
Tomatin 21 Year (Limited Edition)
Single Malt — Highlands, Scotland
Reviewed
April 14, 2018 (edited February 1, 2019)
Hmm interesting a loaded entry with no official or unofficial rating. Lucky for Distiller I have the missing piece...a sample of the dram itself! Even without water its a good one. Toffee, vanilla, caramel, hint of sherry, toasted oak. Even with liberal doses of water it's still a bit "burny" for the abv but that still doesn't detract that much from the great casking. Interestingly the 14 year I had a while back was the same..only 46% but burnt the hair off your chest a bit. The port casking just couldn't hold its own. Based on the two samples I'm thinking their casking policy is very good just not sure about the underlying spirit. Out of interest does anyone know why some drams run a lot hotter than others? e.g. two drams with the same ABV but one just seems like it's much stronger alcohol % than the other? Anyhow I'm loving this more and more and I understand now why LeeE loves this brand. I'm wishing I added water in the 14 yr port sample to see how that evolved but often I find they just fall apart at the lower abv level so I refrained. Anyhow back to the whiskey. This is at least 4.25 maybe 4.5. Very nice drop.
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Aha thanks @cascode. I was wondering about when they cut being a factor and hadn't thought about how fast and hot aka lack of copper contact, also being one.
The width of the cut is also important- two whiskies May have the same abv, but one might be made with a very narrow cut just using the heart whilst the other has some head and feints included, both to achieve the desired abv for casting and to create a more complex profile. Hot spicy congeners can come along for the ride and make the spirit “hot”. As a rough rule, the narrower the cut, the smoother the hooch.
The faster a still runs, the hotter the new-make. If the temperature is a little too high the alcohols boil off at the same temperature, but the whole process happens more quickly and the distillate does not have as much time to contact the copper. There are other factors too, but that’s one of the biggest- still too hot, hooch too hot. This happens in any size operation whether it’s a big commercial distillery or a little home 20 litre still.
@Joe-C Cheers :-). Hope you enjoy your trip to Speyside I believe it is? Very very jealous. Top of my bucket list..
Good review