Tullibardine is not a distillery who’s whisky I love. I’ve only tried a handful of them, and I only ever bought one bottle by the SMWS which, when it was half empty, I took to Maltstock for other people to finish.

In short: With some others, it’s one of my least favorite distilleries.

In 2016 a 12,000 pound bottle was stolen from the distillery, and my first reaction was: “Is there a 12,000 pound bottle of Tullibardine?” This one is not that expensive, obviously, it clocked in at about 1% of that amount. Still, a 22 year old whisky generall is not something to scoff at, and even though I have no clue how I got this, I thought to give the sample a go.

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Weird from the get-go. Cream and cheese, melted brie or something like that. An enormous amount of malt, some oak and some vanilla. Cloyingly sweet, a bit of the dreaded baby vomit.

Sip:
A bit sharper than expected, but also a bit more thin. The sickly flavor is here too, but slightly less so than on the nose. Vanilla and oak. Quite some dry oak and dry spices.

Swallow:
The finish is rather bad. Sickly sweet, also acidic, with some dry spices.

Not good on the nose and palate, but simply awful on the finish. Unfortunately this only confirms my opinion of Tullibardine. Honestly, it’s a lot worse than I expected it to be with this being, what I consider, a bad whisky. No redeeming factors, and a very weird selection from Cadenhead, if you ask me (which, if you’re reading this, you more or less did…)

Funnily, I did finish the 10cl I had of it. After the first glass I didn’t touch it for weeks, and at some point I started wondering if it was truly as bad as I remembered it. It is.

50/100

Tullibardine 1993-2015, 22yo, 2 Bourbon Hogsheads, 47.3%, Cadenhead Small Batch