Tomintoul 10 year old

Now and again I look down the right hand side of Whisky Rover, taking in the list of distilleries I've managed to cover. It's an extensive effort but nevertheless far from complete. One notable omission is in the form of Tomintoul distillery which is often overlooked despite offering age statement whiskies at an affordable price. Time to fill in this gaping hole.

We're kicking off with the 10 year old but I'll in future articles review the 16 and 25 expressions. For now let us consider the origins of this distillery. It's a relatively new arrival on the whisky scene with its first spirit coming off the stills in 1965.

It is one of the more unfashionable distilleries currently on the shelves and that's not a criticism, rather just the way it actually is. It's fair to say Tomintoul prefers a more traditional visual style and tends to shun any fads that do the industry rounds. You'll notice a preference for age statements and keeping prices realistic. This 10 year old will set you back under £30, which given the current vogue for no age statement prices in the £40's and beyond is rather heartening.

Given there's not much to say about Tomintoul distillery that'll spread easily over a trio of reviews lets get straight into this 10 year old right now. Bottled at 40% strength and I expect does have artificial colouring and chill filtration to some degree as its not stated otherwise.

Colour: gold
Nose: more punch than I was expecting upfront with oranges, hazelnuts and vanilla ice cream. Roasted coffee beans certainly are in here with syrup and a fleeting floral note with cardboard. Marzipan and scotch pancakes round off a surprisingly nose.
Taste: in comparison the palate is more lightweight and watery. More oranges and marmalade jam. There's honey, castor sugar and a knob of butter. With water a ginger finish of decent length is noticeable.

Overall: this doesn't tolerate water very well given its fluid character out of the bottle. Would definitely benefit from a higher strength. Certainly not one to write home about, so fingers crossed for the 16 year old review.