The Tomintoul Seiridh (pronounced ‘sherry’ after the Gaelic word for sherry, as the official website helpfully informs us!) is unsururisingly a sherried single malt. More specifically, it’s finished in Oloroso casks after spending the bulk of its maturation in ex-bourbon. It’s a limited edition – the first batch has 6,000 bottles available.
(Sample provided by Angus Dundee.)
Nose: Milk chocolate, raisins, butterscotch and caramel. Very pleasant to begin with – it’s no sherry monster but the finish has certainly left its mark. The butterscotch notes do get a bit persistent with time, to the point of reminding me of melted butter. It’s a borderline rancid note that I sometimes get from other Tomintouls too, so I wonder whether it’s something in the distillate causing this.
Palate: Some honey, nuts, pastries with a lot of butter. It has a surprisingly good body for 40%, certainly beats other similarly bottled Tomintouls in that respect. Unfortunately, the butter note takes over, especially if water is added.
Finish: Drying, nutty.
Comments: This has the potential to be a decent affordable sherry finish, but that persistent butter note spoils it for me. You can take my notes with a pinch of salt, however, because at the Tomintoul blind tasting most people quite liked it.
Score: 76/100
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