This month’s tasting at Trinity Hall Irish Pub featured the Tomintoul (pronounced tom’-in-tool), The Gentle Dram. Here’s what we tasted:
10 Year Old ($40) – Notes of caramel, honey, mild smoke, grass, bitter orange, mild ginger, white pepper, but not very interesting… don’t bother with this one.
12Year Old Oloroso Cask Finish ($70) – Notes of vanilla, white raisin, fresh cut hay, ginger and black pepper with a mildly leathery finish… getting candied ginger after a while… this is better, but way overpriced for an average whisky.
14 Year Old Speyside Glenlivet ($75) – Notes of ginger, grass, pepper, lemongrass, orange peel, honey, leathery and menthol… bitter and spicy, although a few drops of water tame the bitterness (it is 46% ABV)… another pass.
16 Year Old ($64) – Notes of honey, ginger, vanilla and grass… mildly bitter and boring… don’t even think about it!
Peaty Tang ($50) – Plenty of peat with a mild sweetness… plenty of spice, but leathery and bitter… a bit of candied ginger after a while… just not that good.
Yamazaki 18 Year Old ($200) – This was the bonus pour for the night and one that I’ve had before at a private tasting. The Peaty Tang hold over was not good for this fine whisky and almost ruined the experience. We should’ve had this one before any peat. Fortunately, I knew how good this one was and worked to cleanse my palate so that I could enjoy the only pour of the night worth enjoying.
Well, the tasting was fun, but the Tomintoul line was a dissappointment.
