Tomintoul 12 Year Old Portwood Finish

By Barry Bradford on November 11, 2015 • ( Leave a comment )

Tomintoul 12 Year Old Portwood Finish (46%, OB, 2010)

Category: Speyside single malt scotch whisky
Origin: Tomintoul distillery
Bottling: Angus Dundee Distillers
ABV: 46%
Cost: £39.95

What they say

Pure ingredients and the natural environment add to smooth and mellow character of our award-winning Tomintoul Speyside Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch Whisky, “the gentle dram”.

Tomintoul Speyside Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch Whisky Portwood Finish Aged 12 Years has been lovingly crafted, from a selection of the finest Portwood casks, and aged for at least 12 years.

What I say

Another sample from Tom at Tom’s Whisky Reviews. Finished in Port casks for an indeterminate amount of time, this one should appeal to the sweet toothed.

My tasting notes:

Appearance: Orange amber gold (11/20), slow and thick heavy tears and legs
Nose: Orange and ginger marmalade, jammy red fruits, brambles and strawberries, musty oak wood, sweet, oysters with sherry vinegar or sweet scallop meat, a little briny and chalky
Taste: Warm marmalade, neutral sweet (less than nose suggests), slightly savoury and sweet shellfish or scallop meat, clove oil, spiced cinnamon, burnt brown toast with berry jam and caramelised sugars
Finish: Long, spicy and musty oak wood, drying and a little tannic, malty

Overall

Slightly unusual this one, not as sweet and jammy as I was hoping. There was a slightly chalky and salty note in here that I couldn’t shake off the association with shellfish meat (albeit nice and sweet). The port finishing was a little light for my liking and had introduced, or was masking a slightly unusual flavour profile of zesty spice and brine.