Side by side : Oloroso and PX from Tomatin

Following on from my Oloroso & PX review of Paul John bottles here is a comparison of two Tomatin versions.

Like a number of distilleries, the Tomatin Visitor's Centre allow you Bottle Your Own whisky - these are nearly always single cask, cask strength drams, here I've got two to try!

Tomatin, meaning hill of the juniper bush, was founded in 1897 but only lasted 9 years before it closed. Reopening three years later, under new management, in 1909 saw the beginning of a journey which would lead it to becoming one of the largest malt whisky distillery in Scotland. The huge complex included distillery houses where many of the workforce live. 

Two stills became four in 1956, four became six in 1958. Six became eleven in 1961 and then in 1974 a further 12 stills were installed, bringing the total to 23 and overall capacity to 10m litres per annum. 

The distillery never actually ran at full capacity and in 1985 went into liquidation. Two of its bulk customers, Japanese companies Takara Shuzo and Okura & Co bought it in 1986 making it the first Scotch distillery to be under Japanese control. Eleven of the stills were taken out of commission in 2000 with the distillery's focus moving from bulk supply to single malt.

Photo: Aelyth Savage

A stainless steel full lauter mash tun is used to make both unpeated and peated wash. Twelve stainless steel washbacks ferment the wash for up to 110 hours.

Photo: TheAyeLife

Six Wash stills and six Spirit stills use shell and tube condenser to distil new make to around 70% ABV.

Photo: TheAyeLife

Let's see how these BYOs taste:

Dram	2006 12yo Single Cask #2842	2001 19yo Single Cask #34880
Characteristics	58.5% ABV Oloroso	53.7% ABV Pedro Ximenes
Distillery notes	Aroma: Light fruits, nutty, oaky, almond. Taste: Woody, sweet spice, hazelnut, dried fruits, savoury.	Aroma: Raisin, treacle, sticky toffee pudding, sweet spice, Christmas cake, honey, woody. Taste: Sweet spice, oaky, hint of citrus, light fruits.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Dark bronze in the glass, swirls leave a hairline crack which beads slowly and falls as slow thin legs.	Dark bronze in the glass, swirls leave a hairline crack which beads slowly and falls as slow thin legs.
Nose	Sherry bomb notes: musty second hand book shop, rich sherry soaked dried fruit, thick blackcurrant jam and orange marmalade; dry brown sugar, nutty chocolate, fresh coffee notes and some balsamic vinegar.	A bag full of take away in a dunnage warehouse: fish & chips with lots of vinegar, curry, spicy kebab. Very oaky - too long in the cask maybe? Some strawberry jam notes - but this is Fortnum & Mason not Tesco - full of fruit. There's some cardamom spice and balsamic vinegar notes too.
Palate	Thick mouthcoating arrival, loads of dark fruit: dates, figs, raisins, sultanas, prunes; nutty, and instantly drying. The balsamic, coffee and chocolate from the nose are here along with some tobacco and ginger spice notes.	Another thick mouthcoating arrival but very sweet to start: honey and toffee notes. Very old, very drying and a little bite of cardamom spice. Dates, figs black cherries, stewed prunes, and dark chocolate.
Finish	Lingering Christmas fruit, dry Christmas spice and chocolate.	Lingering curry spice dryness, a little toffee sweetness and citrus.
Overall	To summarise as simply as possible the Oloroso gives dryness and spice, the PX gives dunnage funk and sweetness - two lovely drams! Both share sherry bomb characteristics of musty dunnage warehouse, rich sherry soaked dried fruit, thick jam, chocolate etc but each adds something else Orange Marmalade, coffee and nuts with the Oloroso and honey and toffee with the PX. Both are lovely drams and perfect for a cold Winter's night - but which would you prefer? Dry and spicy Oloroso or dunnage funk and sweet PX? I'd go with the PX but wouldn't be disappointed with the Oloroso!

Many thanks to Alex for the Oloroso sample swap!