The Isle of Mull is a short 30-minute ferry ride from the town of Oban on Scotland's west coast, itself a 3.5-hour drive from Edinburgh. Don't believe Google or your Sat Nav on that trip either, driving in the Highlands is not as easy as it looks on a map! Particularly if you leave your departure a little late and end up spending the latter third of the trip driving in darkness and heavy rain like I did. But it's a beautiful part of the world, and there's plenty to see on the way, particularly if you travel north via Falkirk and Stirling, and you could also take a detour to Glen Coe which looks absolutely incredible. Mull itself is quite large, larger than Islay to the south, and the ferry from Oban doesn't stop at the island's main town of Tobermory, only at Craignure which is around 40 minute's drive away. The attractive little town of Tobermory itself has plenty to offer as well, but let's be honest here, we're mainly interested in the fact that it's home to Mull's only distillery!
Tobermory Distillery sits on the right-hand side of the islands main road as you enter the namesake town, which is an area named Ledaig (pronounced "leh-chaig"), facing the main harbour and its iconic multi-coloured buildings. The distillery was actually named Ledaig up until 1979, and had a tumultuous past until it was purchased by Burn Stewart Distillers in 1993, now owned by South African company Distell. The distillery has just returned to production after a two year shut down for major upgrades to the "visitor experience" and major maintenance which included completely replacing their four stills and four wooden washbacks. My visit last year was in the midst of that shut down, but they were still open for tours and sales and have been releasing new limited edition bottlings from their existing stocks, including a few distillery exclusive bottlings that are well worth a look if you're over that way. Tobermory and sister distilleries Bunnahabhain and Deanston seem to be well aware of the value of rewarding their visitors with interesting expressions of their whiskies, and those whiskies are often quite reasonably priced, which is great to see.
I usually prefer Tobermory's peated bottlings, which are bottled as Ledaig, over the unpeated Tobermory whisky. Particularly at cask strength when it's spent some time in a sherry cask. But during my visit to the distillery I was particularly impressed with two Tobermory whiskies, a 17-year old Madeira finish bottling, and the very interesting 200ml cask sample that we're looking at here. During my visit there was a choice of two of these hand-filled cask strength bottlings, an excellent 14-year old Oloroso sherry-matured Ledaig, and this Bordeaux wine-matured Tobermory. They were selling for 30- and 25-pounds respectively, which may sound expensive for nondescript 200ml bottles, but considering the rarity, exclusivity and quality of these whiskies it's not unreasonable. As good as the full-sized offerings were, particularly that Madeira finish, it was these two hand-filled offerings that promptly stole my attention and took my money. And as usual, I already know that I should've bought two. The Tobermory example that we're looking at today is a 10-year old whisky, distilled in 2008, that has been fully matured in a single red wine cask from the Bordeaux region of Southern France. Unfortunately there's no information on oak type, cask number or number of bottles, in fact these little beauties seem to have a similar approach to Cadenheads' cask samples a.k.a 'cage bottles' in that there're absolutely no frills to be seen! This one was bottled at an impressive cask strength of 62% ABV, and is non-chill filtered and naturally coloured since Tobermory and her sister distilleries don't muck around with that sort of thing anymore. Let's get to it!
(apologies for the photo)
Tobermory 2008 Bordeaux cask, 10-year old, 62%. Isle of Mull, Scotland.
Distillery exclusive hand-filled 200ml cask sample, fully matured in a single Bordeaux red wine cask. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.
Colour: Deep bronze with a few tiny bits of barrel char as a bonus. Awesome!
Nose: Takes a while to relax and open up, but it's well worth the wait. Loads of sweet stewed fruit and berries: strawberry, green (under-ripe) pineapple, guava, raspberry and a little plum. Mild roasted nuts, sweet buttery pastry and golden syrup, like a warm pecan pie. A touch of brine with more time, plus black pepper and juicy charred oak. Fantastic.
Texture: Medium weight, warming and a little astringent with a touch of heat (it's 62%, remember!).
Taste: Lots of fruit again, but considerably less sweet than it was on the nose. More black pepper and a touch of light bitterness, like burnt toffee. Some light tannins as well, but in an enjoyable way (and I'm usually not a fan). A hint of plain (natural-flavour) bubblegum, more pineapple and stewed red berries.
Finish: Long. Very peppery here, and astringent again with a slight zing of chilli thrown in. Some more tannins and a hint of spent coffee grounds, more pastry and burnt toffee. The fruit returns further on, particularly that tasty pineapple note which is now more syrupy.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: The nose is just fantastic on this one, once it opens up anyway, and when it does there's so much to explore! The palate is great as well with plenty of complexity, but the finish is a little disappointing after what came before it. It's a little too peppery and drying there, although not in a harsh or rough way, and not only from the high ABV. That pineapple note in this dram is really enjoyable, going from sour under-ripe fruit to naturally flavoured sweet syrup, like you'd find in a high-end ice block / popsicle. The wine cask has definitely had an effect as well, but rather than overwhelm anything else (although the pepper wasn't shy) it's well integrative and has added loads of depth to the whole experience.
A really enjoyable whisky that is just held back by the finish, and it's totally different to any Tobermory I've tasted before, which makes for the ideal distillery exclusive bottling. If you do manage to come across this one, it's well worth a go. And it's a great liquid souvenir from the little Isle of Mull over on the other side of the planet.
Cheers!
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