Tobermory 24 year old – Claxton’s

Tobermory

Founded In 1798 by John Sinclair after applying for the lease of a 57 acre site named Ledaig in 1797 with the intention  to build his distillery along with housing..

Initially a licence to distill was rejected with only a brewing licence granted but John Sinclair prevailed and opened the Ledaig distillery..

The distillery unfortunately closed in 1837  and remained closed until 1878, with closure once again hitting the distillery in 1930 and once again the distillery remains closed for s number of years.. Well 41 to be precise..

The Ledaig Distillery re opens in 1971 but once again hard times impact the distillery and due to bankruptcy it closes again in 1975..

With bursts of production being sporadic over the next decades the distillery is purchased by Burn Stewart Distillers and opens under the Tobermory name..

In 2013 Burn Stewart is bought out by Distell and the rest is history..

The latest chapter has a large refurbishment starting in 2017 and finally finishing in 2019..

Today the distillery is well known for producing both Un peated and peated styles, the un peated version is sold under the Tobermory name while the peated version goes under the Ledaig name..

1994 Tobermory – Single cask – Claxton’s

Distillery.. Tobermory

Region.. Islands ( Mull )

Age.. 24 years

Distilled.. December 1994

Abv.. 55.3%

Cask.. Sherry Butt ( 1963-688048 )

Bottler.. Claxton’s

Outturn.. 346

Nose.. Dates, raisins and a deliciously inviting plum pudding with a rich toffee sauce draws you in before dark chocolate and candied orange segments start to entice the senses into overdrive..  Cherries, fried pineapple rings, cinnamon, coffee and tobacco leaf all become evident at some point..

Palate.. Oak leads into a delicious sweetness that screams sticky toffee pudding and with everything the nose promised turning up this is rather  delicious..

Finish.. Warming and lingering spices.

Thoughts.. I could sit down with this and be very very happy for a long, long time..

There is a real elegance to this expression, the balance is perfect, there is plenty of depth and the aromas and flavours just drag you onto the glass without you even noticing..

A real stunner of a whisky from the Tobermory distillery..

With thanks to Claxton’s for this superb official sample..