Tormore distillery is one of the strangest sights on Speyside, a 1958 modernist palace set in landscaped grounds with a topiary lawn and a clock tower that plays Scottish airs on the hour. Sir Albert Richardson, an architect more accustomed to designing for the City of London than for the malt belt, was given a free hand by Long John Distillers, and the result is unlike anything else in the industry. For more than sixty years the whisky inside was almost entirely anonymous, parcelled into Long John, Teacher's and Ballantine's blends.
The acquisition by Elixir Distillers from Pernod Ricard in 2022 changed that. The new owners released a core range of single malts intended to introduce drinkers to a make that had rarely been seen on its own. The 18 Year Old is the senior expression of that line at the time of writing, bottled at 48% ABV, non-chill-filtered and natural in colour.
Tormore's tall stills and purifier-equipped lyne arms produce a clean, fruity spirit that takes well to long maturation in refill American oak. At eighteen years there is more weight than in the 16, the orchard fruit darkening towards stone fruit and the oak contributing a gentler spice. It is restrained whisky, in the older Speyside manner, and stands as a fitting first proper showcase for a distillery that has spent most of its life hidden behind topiary and blending contracts.
