Finished in the incredibly rare Andean Oak, or Colombian Oak, and winner of gold awards at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. Those are two of the main USPs for this whisky, on the Cù Bòcan website.

To be honest, that award doesn’t mean all that much to me, since there are way too many of them given out to matter. The oak is a bit of a different story. That is indeed not a common tree, since it only grows in Colombia and Panama. More info on, obviously, Wikipedia.

Cù Bòcan is said to be an experimental highland malt, but with it having been around for years, I think the malt itself isn’t all that experimental anymore. It comes down to ‘peated Tomatin’. A lovely Highland Distillery just off the A9. And by lovely I don’t mean it’s picturesque, but more that what they produce is nice and the place is kind of impressive. In all its industrial and concrete ways.

Sniff:
A combination of warming fruit and smokiness. Lightly peaty, with barbecued mango, fruity marinade. A bit of straw too.

Sip:
The smokiness is a little bit more straight forward. More spirit, more oak, more straw. Less fruit, but there still is some. More grilled fruit, pineapple skins, a very slight bitterness too.

Swallow:
The finish lands in the middle of the nose and palate. More fruity, a bit more sweet. Quite long and with a whiff of smoke.

Since I’m me, I didn’t really investigate what this whisky was about. I only got a sample since my friend Tom recommended it. I know he’s a bit of a Tomatin fan, mostly because of the name I guess, but still. He won’t recommend shit whisky.

And in this case, he didn’t indeed. It’s a nice dram with a lot of sweet fruitiness going on. The whiff of smoke keeps the sweetness in check, though. Quite well priced too, at about € 65 in The Netherlands.

86/100