Review #793 - SMWS 89.17 'Keep Nosing' - Tomintoul 9 Year

Written By Me, My Wife & Whisky

In contrast to our last SMWS review, which covered a Glen Moray single malt (a distillery bottled over 400 times by the Society), this 9 year Tomintoul comes from a distillery that is rarely released by SMWS. Only 20 or so single casks have been released to this point, and here we have the 17th, which they've named 'Keep Nosing.'

Tomintoul, owned by Angus Dundee since 2000, was built in the wave of new distilleries during the 1960s. It's said to have a light, fragrant, and floral malt style - one of the more subtle distillates coming out of Scotland. There is a core range from this distillery, but these official bottlings have a mixed reputation.

This single cask of whisky spent its full 9 years of maturation in a second fill bourbon cask, which means we should have a good chance to discover the real character of the Tomintoul distillate. It's bottled at a ridiculous 67.5% ABV, too - we're guessing that this cask was filled at the less traditional 'still strength' instead of the more common 63.5% ABV used in much of the industry.

SMWS 89.17 'Keep Nosing' - Tomintoul 9 Year

Scotland/Speyside - Single Malt

Price: USD 110 (2022)

Age Statement: 9 Years

Strength: 67.5% ABV

Cask Makeup: Second fill ex-bourbon barrel

Details: Not chill filtered, no color added; distilled December 11, 2012; 231 bottles

Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 2 times (once blind) over 15 months from a sample. Tasted in a nosing glass each time, rested 15+ minutes

Nose: Graham crackers and vanilla yogurt, honey, peaches and cream. There's a soft lactic side coming from that cream note, and we get hay and passionfruit as well. There are hints of lemon and some mineral notes; it starts out a bit closed up, but gets better with time, and it smells quite hot.

Palate: The mouthfeel is medium-thick. This is hot and quite woody, a bit spiky, with strong honey, hat, malt, and grassy notes. Passionfruit, bubblegum, lemon-lime soda, and pineapple bring a fruity side, and water brings out more honeycomb. It's vibrant and a bit youthful.

Finish: Honey and light fruits, lemon curd, floral notes... it's still quite warm, and the youthful notes are rounded off into the finish. It's a medium-long finish.

Final Note: This has a classic ex-bourbon Speyside style of strong malty notes, bright fruits, and soft oak. It has a relatively light complexion, and there's no getting around it - that very high strength, combined with the young age, makes for a bit of a fiery tasting experience. Even though there didn't seem to be anything particularly unique about the distillate, at least based on this bottle, we still found it to be solid and enjoyable.

Value here is a little below average, as SMWS bottles tend to be a bit expensive, especially for their age statements. Then again, we liked this whisky much more than the official bottlings from Tomintoul that we've tried, so it could be worth the upgrade.

Our Rating: 7.0 / 10

In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.

Value Rating: 5.84

About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.

Me, My Wife & Whisky
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Review #792 - SMWS 35.399 'Choose Your Own Adventure' - Glen Moray 18 Year