If the standard ten-year Tomintoul is the house style laid bare, the twelve-year-old Sherry Cask is its dressier cousin, the same light Speyside distillate given the courtesy of a full maturation in oloroso butts. The strategy is a familiar one in Speyside — where a delicate spirit benefits from the upholstery that sherry wood can supply — and Tomintoul executes it with restraint rather than swagger.
The distillery was founded in 1964 with blending in mind, and for most of its early life the single malt was a rarity. Since Angus Dundee bought the site in 2000 the range has broadened considerably, and the twelve-year-old Sherry Cask sits a rung above the entry-level expression, offering a measured introduction to what oloroso can do to a gentle spirit without bludgeoning it.
The nose opens on raisin and sultana, with milk chocolate rather than dark, a peel of orange and a discreet nuttiness that suggests walnut rather than hazel. The palate is soft, sweetened by dried fruit and toffee, with a trace of baking spice and the familiar malted biscuit of the house style still visible beneath the sherry. The finish is medium in length and agreeably warming, closing on cocoa and a light oak dryness.
Bottled, like its younger stablemate, at forty per cent, it would undoubtedly profit from a touch more strength; but within its chosen register it is a well-mannered sherried Speysider, and a reminder that Tomintoul's 'gentle dram' can wear a tweed jacket as easily as it wears shirtsleeves.
