Scotch Whisky Review #452: Thompson Bro Tobermory 27 Year (1995)
Distillery: Tobermory.
Region: Island.
Age: Distilled on December 6th 1995 and bottled in December of 2022.
ABV: 49.7%.
Cask Type: Refill Hogshead.
Price: ~£185.
Color: 0.7, Tawny. Natural Color and Non-Chill Filtered.
Nose: It smells super fruity and quite sweet to the point where it almost smells like a dessert wine, a nice sauternes or ice wine come to mind. Lots of tropical fruits come through in the form of passionfruit, mango, pineapple sherbert, golden kiwi, and starfruit. Some white grapes come in as well which leans into the dessert wine note. There’s a bit of a maritime note, something that reminds me of freshly roasted seaweed (maybe Korean seaweed chips/김부각?) comes in after the fruits.
Palate: This is quite creamy, having both creamy flavors as well as a mouthfeel quite similar to coffee creamer. The tropical notes from the nose continue on here. Its like a tropical fruit salad served with a rich whipped cream. Pineapple custard, mangosteen, papaya, passionfruit (specifically this passionfruit French yogurt cup I’ve been into lately) along another fruit I can’t quite exactly place (has a bit more of a sour-tart note) are what come to mind. That sour-tart note is somewhere between a kiwi and a severely under-ripe strawberry. Adding a splash of water didn’t really change much beyond maybe making some of the fruit notes a little sharper.
Finish: Long. Some mineral and metallic notes come through. Normally I might find notes like this a detractor from a dram but here they are quite pleasant and actually help clean up some of the creaminess that might otherwise overwhelm from the palate. There is a bit fruit in the form of a tart pineapple juice as well. Water makes the pineapple more like a tart citrus instead.
Conclusion: My whisky of the year last year was another Thompson Brother’s bottling from Tobermory Distillery, an unpeated Ledaig specifically. Immediately upon having that one, I’d gone to see if they had any available. Unfortunately they didn’t at the time and instead had this similarly aged Tobermory and I figured I’d give it a punt. In a word, this is nothing short of fantastic. From the moment you bring your nose to the glass to long after you’ve gulped it down, there is layer upon layer of deliciousness. The sheer variety of fruit notes is incredible and there’s a little bit something extra throughout, from seaweed on the nose to creaminess in the palate to the mineral/metallic notes in the finish, that just help elevate the experience as a whole. Fantastic bottle and one I’m very, very pleased to have.
Final Score: 93.
Scotch Whisky Review #452, Island #73, Whisky Network Review #609
Scoring Legend:
- 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
- 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky and I will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection if feasible.
- 85-89: Very good to amazing, almost the complete product and I’m likely wanting a bottle or two.
- 80-84: Quite good, pleasant overall though there is usually a few things that could be improved still.
- 75-79: Good, enjoyable to drink but ultimately flawed.
- 70-74: Alright, solid and wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
- 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
- Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.
Scotch & Sheen 
