While a couple of years ago Tomatin was not a much seen distillery on the shelves of Dutch booze retailers, that has since been remedied with at least a few casks bottled for The Netherlands. Another one than this was bottled for the county itself, this one has been bottled for The Specialist’s Choice.

That last thing is a small group of bottle shops that bottle a cask of whisky every year. Sometimes from an indie bottler (The Nectar, A.D. Rattray) or a distillery itself. I think there also has been a GlenDronach and maybe some others.

This specific one was drawn from a 1st fill Oloroso butt, which means a lot of bottles were available. 655 In this case. Not surprisingly, it didn’t sell out overnight, and I think with a bit of browsing you can find some of the older ones as well.

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
The nose starts off quite dry with some cherry stone bitterness, which can also be described as almond, I guess. Some raisins and lots of oak. There’s an acidic hint of passion fruit. A scent of hay is added after a long while.

Sip:
The palate is sharp. Really, really sharp. Bone dry and cutting like a razor. Quite uncomfortable at first with sweet flavors of fruit and spices. Baking spices and dried plums. Some cherries and a tinge of bitterness.

Swallow:
The finish goes full on towards the sherry. Really rich in the fruitiness and baking spices.

This is a bit of a weird one. The sharpness is rather uncomfortable on the palate in a way that can put you off right away. It takes quite a bit of swimming before it settles and your tongue is numb enough to tolerate the alcohol.

Having said that, the flavors are pretty enjoyable and you end up with a nice, and richly sherried dram. It’s not overly complex, but all the staple flavors of a sherried whisky are present.

83/100

Tomatin 2006-2016, 10yo, 1st Fill Oloroso Butt 2841, 54.5%, OB for The Specialist’s Choice NL. Widely available in The Netherlands