Cadenhead’s Warehouse Tomatin 13 year old Single Malt Review

Tomatin Distillery was at one time in the 1970's the largest distillery in Scotland boasting a total of 23 stills, quite an increase from the two stills of 1909 when the New Tomatin Distillers Company Ltd was formed after a false start in 1897 that only saw the distillery operational for 9 years before closure. Like many distilleries in Scotland the history of Tomatin is one of peaks and troughs.

Post Second World War, the demand for Scotch whisky again exploded and starting in 1956 expansion of the distillery began when another two stills were added. 1958 saw the addition of two more stills wtih a further six being added in 1961. By 1974 23 stills are in situ and the distillery is capable of producing 12.5 million litres of alcohol per year. But even it's size could not save the distillery from the recession of the 1980's and the distillery company goes into liquidation in 1985.

Throughout this time many Scottish distilleries were mothballed or demolished being seen as either outdated or inefficient. Tomatin though being the largest malt distillery in Scotland was full of state of the art equipment and was also the most efficient distillery around. As such the distillery did not lay dormant for too long. 

In 1986, two Japanese companies, Takara Shuzo Co. and Okara & Co form the Tomatin Distillery Company with Takara Shozu being the majority shareholder to this day. By 2002 the company decide to focus on quality and downsize the operations removing 11 of the stills. The business also changed focus from mass production to facilitate blenders to growing their core range of single malts.

In 2013 saw the release of the Cù Bòcan lightly peated range of single malts which is billed as their experimental range where they play with a range of 'innovative' finishes. These are all presented the way us whiskey nerds like....46% abv at least, natural colour and non chill filtered. To be fair looking on their website these seem sensibly priced so they may well be worth looking into.

With the core range things get a bit muddier with a few of their entry level releases being put out at 40% abv and 43% abv. It's not until the 14 year old Port Cask release that we get the trifecta of whisky goodness we want...46%/Natural Colour/Non Chill Filtered but that comes at a handsome cost of nearly £80.

Today's review again looks outside the Official Bottling range of Tomatin and we go indy with a Cadenhead's Warehouse Tasting release from 2022. The sample was sent to me by Hamish of Dramface fame.

Distilled in 2009 it was recasked into a fresh bourbon barrel in 2020 before being bottled in 2022. This makes it 13 years old and it's been bottled at a lively 55.7% abv. As always with Cadenheads this is natural colour and non chill filtered and according to WhiskyBase the price was £50 on release.

Let's Taste!

Nose: Estery & fruity. Pear drops, apricot and a little kiwi fruit. Vanilla cream. A lot of malt too. Biscuits, butter cream, almond oil, meringues and a bung cloth. Nutmeg and a slight metallic note.

Palate: Not as fruity as the nose. A little dry and oak driven on arrival. Toffee, poached pear with clove and nutmeg. Barley, hazelnuts and some cocoa. A vegetal dried grass note too. Pencil lead.

Finish: Short with a biscuity note lingering along with stewed orchard fruit and warming toasted oak.

Score: 5 out of 10

Overall: Quite a simple dram, easily imbibed. There isn’t a massive amount of complexity or flavour development. It’s okay for the money and you’re likely to be able to find this easily at auction if you feel the need to try an unadulterated Tomatin. 

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