review #6: Tomintoul 43yr, 1968/2011, TWA Private Stock, 43.2%, ex-bourbon, 78 bottles

I think I missed the boat on this.

I don't know anything at all about Tomintoul, except that fair number of old casks -- all from '68 or '69, I think -- came on the market in the past couple of years, and they're probably all gone now. I never hear much about younger casks, but they're still around, even if most go into blends.

The nose is amazing in a way that only an old whisky can be. My first thought was that it's a sherry cask, with all the dried fruit and nuttiness, but I guess that's only malt, wood, and lots of time. It would take a long time to unpack all of this -- apricots, peach pie, tapioca, cinnamon, cloves, exotic wood, sawn oak, raisins, black pepper, marzipan, cashews, creme fraiche, honey, and so on and so on. It's fruit (mostly dried, maybe a little citrus) + perfume (amber) + spice + wood + some creaminess + a little grassiness.

So of course I expect the palate to suck (dry, bitter wood tannins). It's all right, but it just sort of disappears. It's tannic and oily for a moment, and then it's gone. Maybe some peaches, but then it's dearly departed.

The finish lingers: peach pie, vanilla, and tobacco. faint but very long.

score: 90

(higher for the nose, lower for the palate)

update: they have a current bottling called "Peaty Tang." they win.

update update: apparently the local bodega actually sells the OB 10yr old. It comes in a nice tube, but I didn't buy it.