One Quick Dram: Tomatin 14 Year Old Port Finish

This is the second tasting in a blogger’s night I had with Yoav Gelbfish of the Whisky Gospel Blog . We tasted the Tomatin Vintage 1988 and the Tomatin 14, replacing the Tomatin 15 which is leaving the roster.

Another expression that is being retired is the 30 year old, which is being replaced by the first batch of the  Tomatin Vintage 1988, and you can read my review here.

The 14 Year Old spends 13 years in ex-Bourbon barrels, then its fourteenth year in Port pipes. So the color is a bit rosy, but not as deep as the Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban, which spends a full 1/6 of its maturation in port wood.

Tomatin 14 Year Old Port Finish (46% ABV)

Color: Dark straw with pinkish hue/Light rose. Thin legs.

Nose: Floral, soft port, cloves, pepper, red berried, vanilla and tree bark (like a willow branch stripped of the bark). After a few minutes you get marshmallow. The addition of water enhances the nose making it sweeter and easier to discern different spice notes.

Palate: A sweet wave right up the center of the tongue followed by pepper and spice all around. Oak and bitter wood mixing with sweet port and spice. The whisky feels very soft and smooth in the mouth. With the addition of a little bit of water the port sweetness and the oak become more pronounced and is more balanced.

Finish: Sweet with lots of spice and wine tannins. The water tips the linger from the spicy to the port in a subtle way.

All in all, It’s an easy drink. Not extremely complex, not a dram you’ll nose for hours, but definitely a nice after dinner dram.

Yoav and I both agreed that a bit of water does the nose some good. I thought it gave the whole dram more balance and Yoav felt the water added to the nose but not to the palate. You can read Yoav’s review here.