Tomatin 1966, 25-year-old Limited Edition /43%/ 0.7l

Over its 120-year history, Tomatin Distillery has experienced both ups and downs.

The huge expansion from the 1950s to the 1970s made it Scotland's largest malt distillery (in 1974 it was distilling in 23 stills), but it also led to bankruptcy in 1985. The Japanese companies that took over the distillery, Takara Shuzo and Okura & Co., reduced its distilling capacity by more than half and focused on producing malt spirits for blenders. In 1998, Okura & Co.'s shares were bought by Marubeni Group. The Tomatin presented here, distilled in March 1966, when the plant was distilling in five pairs of stills, is a limited edition of 1,200 bottles released in February 1992. The whisky spent a quarter of a century in oak casks and was bottled at 43% ABV.

Aroma : fruity, slightly dusty (antiquarian bookstore), oranges, tangerines, mangoes, nectarines, vanilla, milk fudge, chocolate cake, marzipan, cinnamon and a trace of eucalyptus.

Palate: consistent with the aroma, honeyed breakfast cereals, orange jam, papaya, apricots, mango, bananas, milk chocolate, pralines, cinnamon, cloves, notes of licorice and oak.

Finish: quite long, with notes of tropical fruit, vanilla, honey, mulled wine spice, a pinch of salt and oak.