Ah, Tomintoul- the gentle dram... That’s their tagline. I purchased a 3 5cl sampler pack with a European order a couple months ago figuring I’d give these guys another try after being very unimpressed with their Peaty Tang bottling. This sampler has pours of the 10, 16 and 25 year old, unpeated malts for around $32 + shipping. Not bad for a quarter century sample, I guess. Let’s start with the 10 year and get a baseline first, shall we? Upon pouring it into the Glencairn I get lots of warning signs: golden yellow that looks like it was colored, big droplets of water and thin legs after giving it a spin, and even large water spots where the legs drained after things settle out. Yikes, should I even question the advertised 40% ABV? There’s a lot of water here. The nose was non-existent during the pour and even after a solid 5 minutes of swirling there isn’t much wafting out of the glass. What does appear, eventually, is weak bread notes, candied corn and a bit of fresh cut oak. The key descriptor here though is “weak”. The palate has a nice start with some sweet vanilla and oak, but then that cream corn note creeps in and just leaves a bland, corn chip flavor lingering on the tongue. It’s a gentle dram and for a minute I swore it actually tasted like I was drinking room temperature water. Yowza, Tomintoul- the TOO gentle dram... The finish ended up being dry with a surprisingly high amount of bitterness and oak. Thankfully it was short. Overall, this is a dud. I’m hoping the 16 and 25 year old samples will offer something more along the lines of depth and character. If it’s just a couple of well aged water and corn it will be $32 wasted. This thing is a 2 star dram just because it has alcohol in it. I see no reason to buy a full bottle for any reason, though. Unless you like soft, corn-flavored water. Cheers, my friends.