Tomatin Distillery Exclusive Virgin Oak cask #1526

Tomatin Distillery Exclusive Virgin Oak cask #1526

Region: Highlands

ABV: 59.9%

Price: £70.00 

This release was distilled at Tomatin on 19th March 2019 and matured in a virgin oak cask. Our bottle of this distillery exclusive release was filled on the 25th May 2025.

Nose

The nose opens with a real creamy, butteriness, think crumpets lathered in warm butter. There's also fresh pear, custard cream biscuits, lemon tea, white chocolate buttons with rainbow sprinkles, and pineapple gummy bears. There's a little yeasty, spirituous when you get deep into the glass, however there's a lot of cask influence that covers that up. There's a good alcohol balance, our nose hairs are intact. 

Palate

The palate opens with melted cooking chocolate, butterbeer, Jamaican ginger cake and something that reminds us a little of an Oreo - the cocoa flavoured biscuit and creamy white filling. We're also finding brown sugar towards the finish, and a bit of treacle too. The alcohol is warm, a little punchy, but still balances out with the intensity of flavour that the cask has brought. The mouthfeel coincides with the syrupiness, a nice texture but it does fall away towards the finish.

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose has more of an apple pie-like aroma, lots of buttery pastry, cooked apple filling and a dash of cinnamon on top. The buttery theme continues with freshly baked scones, and those custard cream biscuits make another appearance. Overall it hasn't changed too much.

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate highlights the orchard fruits, the apples and pears, much more prominently. The intensity has been dialed back - the treacle is now honey, we're getting the pineapple gummy bears on the palate rather than the nose, but it has lost a bit of its thick viscous texture. More balanced with water, but at the loss of some interesting flavours and textures.

Conclusion

Quite impressive for a 6 year old whisky, but the cask is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. That's not a bad thing though - there's a little more fruity Tomatin spirit on the nose but the palate is all virgin oak for us. It's a tad hot, but in balance overall. Pretty good dram.

Score: 7/10

Value

While it’s a touch pricey for a six year old, it’s still one of the cheaper distillery hand fills.

• 10 - Perfection. One in a million
• 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
• 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
• 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
• 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
• 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
• 4 - Below average. Passable.
• 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
• 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
• 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.

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