Tomintoul 12 Year Old 2006 McShelfie #3

The third and final (for now) club bottling of McShelfie (a Belgian whiskyclub) is this Tomintoul from 2006, matured on a combination of refill hogsheads and refill oloroso hogsheads. I do not have a long track record of Tomintoul as this is only my 16th and most of those I tried were much older. So I do not really have any reference.

Wonderfully sweet nose on barley sugars, peach, coconut, gooseberry with a hint of vanilla waffles and marzipan. Maple syrup, yellow apples, a leaf of mint and a pinch of cinnamon. There is also a sour note that I cannot quite pinpoint, but it does provide some depth. This is very pleasant.

Despite the 54%, this is quite drinkable. The sweet and sour notes from the nose return enhanced, but I am mostly pleasantly surprised by the flavors of blood oranges and carbonized wood. Lots of woodsmoke and woodspice, making it quite atypical. Tomintoul promotes itself as ‘the gentle dram’, but this one is not so gentle. This is a powerhouse. Nutmeg and white pepper join the cinnamon.

The finish is very long, very spicy and upholstered with mint. It dies a dry death.

Sturdy and pleasant, albeit somewhat atypical Tomintoul. Atypical seems to be a theme for the boys and girls at McShelfie… Not even 60 EUR. Lucky bastards.

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