Two 1st fill ex-bourbon barrels aged for 31 years make up this mini-vatted edition of 422 bottles. Delivered at 53% ABV and with a 50s/60s style label that you know can only be genuine! Still available from Master of Malt for £224.95.
Nose: Creamed rice pudding and split vanilla pod sit with sliced green apples, and a squeeze of cider over yoghurt. Digestive biscuits and a polished oak bowl wrap thing ups in a straight-forward, but attractive package. Dilution broadens things considerable with apricots, Battenburg cake and sense of underlying oilness. Think I prefer this nose brought down by a few degrees – there’s just more going on.
Taste: An oily weight derived from long maturation helps deliver an arrival of furniture polish and tangy pineapple fritters. The development expands to include overripe apple (sweet but turning sour) and resinous oak containing touches of menthol, pepperiness and vanilla buns. Reduction offers a softer, more fruit-forward profile with tinned apples and tropical/stone fruit salad alongside porridge oats.
Finish: Medium with drying oak (though not overly tannic and sticky) together with bright orchard fruitiness.
This Sponge Tormore makes up for what it lacks in overall width with a general sense of loveliness throughout. The aromas and flavours are narrow, but well-defined, well-integrated and well-influenced by three decades of maturation. I found the addition of water to be quite beneficial here – as well as a little patience for the whisky to unravel in the glass. Lovely, just a little confined to earn a higher score.