Tomatin 12 yo Highland Scotch

A booze bomb review courtesy of hudsonvalley

Tomatin 12 yo Single Highland Malt Scotch Whisky, 750ml, tube packaging, standard tall bottle, 86 proof, about $25-30, limited US distribution.



A really wonderful day working out in the yard, got to smoke 2! cigars, a typical yard gar and after dinner of broiled swordfish, salad from our garden (I put up 2 cold boxes earlier this year) and fresh green beans I had a nice 1926. The wife and I took a walk around the neighborhood and I came back to sit on the deck, pour a bit of Tomatin in my glass and figure out my review.

Tomatim was established in 1897 and is now the last working distillery in the Inverness area. With twelve stills in operation (and 11 more idle), it is the largest in Scotland. Earlier, in the 1970s, the stills were increased from 4 to 12 and production went to almost 9 million liters a year. Even this prodigious amount didn't keep the distillery from going bankrupt in 1985 and then be bought out by the Japanese firm of Takara, Shuzo & Okura (known mostly for hotels). This made Tomatin the first Scottish distillery to be wholly owned by a Japanese company. They increased the stills to 23 and ramped up production to 12 million liters a year. Now only about half of the stills are in operation and production is still near the 12 million liter mark. The vast majority is used for blends as almost every blending house buys some of their product. While recently there has been a push for and an increase of their single malt sales it still remains a small part of the overall output. Besides the 12 yo product there is also an 18 and 30 along with numerous different independent bottlings.

Tomatin noses a soft spice along with a bit of lemon citrus, nicely fresh and clean. The taste is typical highland sweet with a slight nuttiness and some malt on the back of the tongue. Tomatin finishes in a medium short amount of time with the citrus returning before being replaced by a vanilla like sweetness with the malt again playing at the back of the tongue.

Overall not a bad dram and there are few in it's price range to compete with. It's bit lighter and sweeter then the Speyside 12 for example. I'd give it good marks on value but there are better 12 yo drams out there albeit for 30% more in price.

Thanks for the review! Very interesting, it sounds like a great "value" scotch as well as a great newbie/non-scotch-drinker scotch. I may have to see if I can find some; at $25-30 it could be a good replacement for Dewars, J&B, or whatever other less-expensive blend one might have in the liquor cabinet. May also be able to supplement Dalmore 12, which I find to be a damn decent cheap single malt.

Well, after re-reading your review, you've talked me into it. This sounds tasty enough I am adding it to my list for my next scotch order.

Thanks for the review and all the info, AVB. I just used my last bottle to ply the guys at the recording studio where I am doing a lil project.

Goes great with the blues!

Gotta see if they have more locally here. I get it for 20 a pop.

That makes it an even better buy!

hudsonvalley said:

Gotta see if they have more locally here. I get it for 20 a pop.

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Thanks for the review, greatly appreciated. I think I will try to run some of this down.

Ken

I've had the Tomatin 12 on a few occasions. The first time was about 4 years ago and I found it to have a nice smooth flavor with some nice spice behind it. I grabbed another bottle this year and was much less impressed. While not bad, there's very little finish on it and I just don't get anything near the flavor I'd experienced earlier. So my impression of this Scotch is that it's pretty hit-or-miss, without a ton of consistency from year to year.

Over the past few years there have been some changes. Proof was raised from 80 to 86 and age has gone up from 10 to 12.

mgbfan said:

I've had the Tomatin 12 on a few occasions. The first time was about 4 years ago and I found it to have a nice smooth flavor with some nice spice behind it. I grabbed another bottle this year and was much less impressed. While not bad, there's very little finish on it and I just don't get anything near the flavor I'd experienced earlier. So my impression of this Scotch is that it's pretty hit-or-miss, without a ton of consistency from year to year.

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Picked up three more bottles today. Getting ready for this weekends recordings. This stuff hits my newbie palate just right.

Nice review AVB. I have had this a couple of times and didn't mind it at all. It wasn't overly memorable but it was enjoyable. Thanks!

When I stopped by my favorite liquorist/tobacconist on the way home from work today I noticed they had a bottle of this on the shelf, so I grabbed it (along with some leafy goodies ). I've just poured a dram and had two sips of it, so let's get this thing going. The whisky is a nice amber color in the glass, just the right hue (I dislike light-colored whiskies, in appearance if not in taste). On first nosing: wow, this is sweet! It's a very "warm" aroma. I'm not quite sure what that means, but it just smells warm to me. After sniffing a few more times, then letting my nose clear (and some of the alcohol evaporate), now I am getting what is still a very sweet, honey/flowery/perfumey aroma. I can't pick out all the really subtle nuances, and I'm not getting the hint of lemon AVB mentioned.

As for the flavor, for me it tracks the aroma quite well, being neutral on the tip of the tongue, but then bursting into a very full, round sweet flavor as it moves back through the mouth. I do pick up a lemon flavor as I swallow, and it has a medium length finish that is sweet and malty. Now that I've tasted the bit of lemon, I pick it up in the aroma as well, but I still find it stronger as a flavor than a smell. I'm also not getting much nuttiness out of it, certainly not as much as I find in Glenlivet 12, which I find far too sweet to drink more than two drams of (neat, at least; I can drink it, or most anything, indefinitely (i.e. until I hit the floor) on the rocks).

This Tomatin is, for $30.00, a damn fine whisky, and I think one of the best values I've come across. Depending on how it fares over the next few weeks, this may be a permanent addition to my cabinet. At this moment, I can't think of any other scotch in this price range I like as well as this.

Always good to have another point of view in the reviews. Hopefully, you'll add your thoughts to some of the other reviews too.

I didn't notice citrus either, I tasted peach. But that is how this sort of thing goes. As varied in opinion as politics. Well, at least we can still post about booze. :laugh:

I picked up a bottle of the Tomatin 12yr tonight, and just wanted to thank AVB, rbbrock, and all the other contributors to this thread.
I am enjoying the first glass of this scotch quite a bit. I paid $27 at the local "high priced" liquor store, which puts it at the same price point as JW Black. It is more appealing to my "newbie taste buds" than most other single malts I've had; I think it's due to a relatively low amount of peat.

-tw

Hey Thomas,
If you have the time, you may want to check out the Scotch Whisky tasting on 4/10 at the Intercontinental in Buckhead. There's more Scotch than you'll be able to consume, and it's a great learning experience. Here's the link.