While the Tomatin brand may have a fairly low profile on the shelves of
liquorists around the world as a single malt, vast quantities of it were used
in various blends like Antiquary and The Talisman. Measured by production
capacity, Tomatin is one of the top 10 malt whisky distilleries in Scotland.

The Tomatin distillery was founded in 1897 during the 'whisky boom' of the
late nineteenth century. The 'Pattison Crisis' that followed the boom wiped
out many distilleries, but Tomatin managed to struggle on for a few years
before it went bankrupt in 1906. The Tomatin Distillery Co. Ltd. resumed
production in 1909 and for half a century the history of Tomatin was fairly
uneventful. Their single set of two stills was quietly bubbling away on the
border of the Northern Highlands, Western Highlands and Speyside.

However, in 1956 things started to change for Tomatin. The number of stills was expanded
from two to four - and then they added two more in 1958. And then the people of Tomatin
started to think REALLY big. In 1961 they added four more stills, bringing the total to ten stills.
But wait there's more... In 1964 yet another still was added, making Tomatin (temporarily at
least) one of only a few Scotch whisky distilleries with an uneven number of stills. By the time
the maltings at Tomatin were closed in 1974, 23 stills were operating there. At the time, it was
Scotland's largest distillery, annually producing 12 million litres of alcohol.

The Tomatin Distillery Company went into liquidation in 1985, but
just one year later two Japanese customers came to the resque.
In 1986 Takara Shuzo Co. and Okara & Co. bought the Tomatin
distillery and became the first Japanese owners of a Scotch whisky
distillery. I think that also made them the very first Asian owners...
 
In 1998 Takara Shuzo Co. (part of the Marubeni Group) acquires
the shares of Okara & Co. and becomes the sole owner of the
Tomatin Distillery Co. Ltd. By that time many more distilleries in
Scotland were owned by Asian companies, including Bowmore,
Glen Garioch, Auchentoshan, and Ben Nevis. After the Indian
take-over of Whyte & Mackay in 2007, the list grew even longer.

I didn't bother enough to make precise calculations, but I imagine that almost twenty
percent of the Scotch whisky industry is now in Asian hands. They seem to do quite well.

The turbulent history of Tomatin is interesting for another reason - it was the first distillery in Scotland that used a novelty from the brewer's world; the lauter mash tun. Traditional mash tuns used turning rakes to keep mixing the malted barley and the water. In the lauter mash tun these rakes were replaced by sharp knives, twisting and turning to help the extraction of soluble starch. While the guides at many distilleries have a folksy tale to tell about workers falling into a mash tun and refusing to come out, I think the lauter mash tun has put an end to that practice in real life...

The 10 years old official bottling shown at the left used to be a favourite of mine in the 1990's.
It has since been replaced by a Tomatin 12yo expression shown above, while older official bottlings have become available as well. If you ask me, the design of the label of the 25yo makes it look like a bottle you might expect to find on the shelves of a brothel in the 1970's, but there's no accounting for bad taste I guess ;-)  And looks aren't everything; I prefer the new 12yo over the old 10yo.

That being said - I've had the pleasure of trying some very decent independent bottlings of Tomatin over the years. Perhaps the 25yo OB became a little too 'vatted' and polished for my tastes.

1) The altitude / elevation of Tomatin distillery is circa 300 meters above sea level.

2) In 2002 eleven of the original stills at Tomatin were removed and dismantled.

3) Tomatin's malt whisky is matured in two dunnage warehouses and thirteen racked warehouses.
 

Here's are my notes on the 'core range' OB's, followed by a selection of my personal favourits.

Tomatin 10yo (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 1995)
Nose: Something in it that reminded me of a visit to the dentist. Weird... Peanuts? Some smoke. Fruit sweets.
Spicy. Sour later. Very interesting. The nose of this malt has something new to offer every time you smell it.
Taste: It hadn't notably improved after extensive breathing in the bottle - a shame. A bit sweet, a bit malty.
Sherry? Ginger? Eucalyptus? Nutty and dry finish. The chameleon of Speyside wins a point for pure versatility.
Score: 75 points - this is a malt everybody should try some time. A challenge...

Tomatin 12yo (40%, OB, Bottled +/- 2004)
Nose: Light with a lovely honey sweetness reminding me of Balvenie. Slightly spicy.
This seems like an 'upbeat' whisky - despite some harsh grainy notes in the background.
It turns sour with a cidery prickle after a few minutes, but sweetens out again quickly.
Taste: Hmmm... Not quite as 'solid' as I'd expected, but quite chewy after a minute.
Feels a tad 'winey' on the gums during the long, cool finish. No obvious flaws here.
It feels a little gritty and winey in my mouth but it's pleasurable enough.
Score: 80 points - I can see myself emptying a bottle on a summer night, but it could have done with a higher proof.

Tomatin 19yo 1977/1997 (57,2%, Glenhaven, B. 09/1977, D. 06/1997).
Nose: Lovely!!! Big, sweet and spicy. It settles down in a minute - or should I say falls apart?
No, that's not it - but the profile changes quite radically, becoming fruitier. Gooseberry and peach.
Very interesting organics drift in and out of focus. Almost 'veggy', but with much more substance.
Taste: Gooseberries - very concentrated and sweet, almost like Gooseberry jam. Malty. Hint of smoke?
Burnt hazelnuts? Increasing bitterness towards the finish, but easily drinkable at cask strength.
After I added water I suddenly thought I detected something soapy and perfumy - and it grows...
Fortunately, it the soap and perfume vanish again after a while, leaving a solid malty dram.
Score: 87 points - despite the fleeting faint hints of soap and perfume on the palate.
Here they really don't disturb me so much; they are an integral 'part of the picture'.
The nose is especially great - it might have made the 90's if it wasn't for the palate.

Tomatin 25yo (43%, OB, Bottled +/- 2005)
Nose: Light and grainy with organics in the background. Hint of lemon, perhaps? Some smoke?
Taste: Sweet. Fruity. Maybe just a tad herbal? Pleasant but not especially complex. Gooseberries?
Well, perhaps all it needed was some time. Fruity with a lot of depth. Lovely.
Score: 82 points - very pleasant on the palate, but right now it doesn't seem quite 'recommendable'.
Revision: Light and grainy again. Not a lot of power. Based on the nose I'd still say 78 points is enough.
It's a different story on the palate, though. Let's go with 82 points now.

Tomatin 1968/2001 (40%, G&M Connoisseur's Choice, 5cl) 
Nose: Wow! Deep overwhelming fruity sweetness, unlike anything I've smelled before.
Pipe tobacco. Not extremely complex, but I just LOVE this profile! Simply fabulous. Pickles?
After fifteen minutes some spices and organics emerge, along with the occasional whiff of pine.
Vegetable soup? It just keeps developing. I think Tomatin just earned itself another star as well.
Taste: Sweetish and fruity like the nose at first, becoming smokier and sherried. Packs a punch.
Once again not terribly complex, but extremely lovable. Great body, great finish. Some menthol?
Score: 90 points - That's right, mum. After 'life imprisonment in oak cask' (in this case more than 30 years) this Tomatin is still going strong, Now I start to understand how Gordon & MacPhail built its reputation. Something must have gone wrong at the company in the 1990's, but like Derek Hancock already explained to us during our trip to Scotland in 2003 (and the results of the MM Awards have proven) a fresh wind is blowing through the offices and warehouses of Gordon & MacPhail - and it isn't a farting cat...

Tomatin 37yo 1965/2003 (47.2%, Hart Brothers, Distilled 11/1965, Bottled 5/2003, 5cl).
Nose: Subtle fruits and sherry at first - very refined. Raisins? Furniture polish? Smoke?
A little more powerful with time. Spices. Not very complex, but very subtle and enjoyable.
Interesting development with time. Many shades of sherry. No 'sherry monster', though.
Taste: A fairly weak start picks up quickly with gooseberry and liquorice. Great centre.
Doesn't need any water. Minty. Salty? Just a tad too woody and bitter in the finish for me.
Score: 88 points - leaning towards 89. Some single malt whiskies that have reached such an old age have lost their 'thrill', but this one is still going strong.

Tomatin 40yo 1965/2005 (44.9%, M&H Cask Selection, Bourbon cask, 120 Bottles)
Nose: Whiff of paint thinner, quickly sweetening out. A sophisticated yet friendly malt. Fruit sweets?
Taste: Ooh, that's too bad. Nothing really 'wrong' here, but it feels a tad weak, bitter and a tad herbal.
Score: 85 points - but of course our Belgian maniac Luc scored it in the 90's. He must have a few bottles ;-)
Interestingly enough, an old 'Jack Wiebers' Tomatin had the same void between nose and taste.
 

These were not all the (official and independent) expressions of Tomatin whisky I've tried over the years.
My Track Record used to contain a complete overview of all the single malts I've tried, but when I passed the 2000 malts mark (and the complete whisky list wouldn't fit on two separate HTML pages anymore) I gave up. My Liquid Log still contains my tasting notes on most single malts I've sampled and scored, though. You can find a specific expression through the search box at the top of each distillery profile. The mAlmanac now contains (purely personal) selections of some of the best single malts and the worst whiskies I've tried so far - as well as the ones with the highest 'Bang-For-Your-Buck' value. But those tasting notes and scores only reflect my own, purely personal opinions. On Serge's distillery profile on Whiskyfun you can find another perspective on the whisky made at this distillery. Check out the Malt Maniacs Monitor on Malt Maniacs for my scores on all expressions I've tried so far - and those of almost all the other certified malt maniacs as well. The Malt Maniacs Matrix contains a few thousand single malts that were sampled and scored by at least four different malt maniacs, so you can compare our individual opinions.
 
 

According to the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2008, the Tomatin distillery now
produces circa two million litres of alcohol each year. That means they're
not even operating at half capacity - while the current capacity of five
million litres is a mere shadow of the twelve million litres of alcohol they
produced around 1974. Remember that this equals over twenty-five
million bottles of (malt) whisky. Well, I guess that it's no wonder that
the 1970's went by in a blurry haze for so many people ;-)

That's all the noteworthy information about Tomatin I can think of at the moment, but if anything else springs to mind I'll add it to this page. The same goes for trivia and tasting notes for noteworthy new releases.