After that lovely PX finished Ledaig, it’s time to review it’s 12-year-old brother ‘sans’ peat, from the same distillery. This time, a 4-year finish in Port Pipes, which is quite apparent from the lovely reddish color, bottled at a nice ABV (58.6%), it should be interesting enough…
Tobermory 12 Year Old 2007 Port Pipe Finish , 56.8%, £99 / ~100 EUR
Nose: Not very vinous on the nose, which is nice (for me at least, as I am not very fond of big winey notes in whisky) – there’s quite some citrus in there, maybe ripe tangerine, and some more spices, quite fragrant, licorice, cherubs, quite sweet but there’s also a saline-y touch to it. More orchard fruit develops with peach, pear, red apple peel, quince jam.
Palate: starts quite spicy with a nice alcohol bite, with a salty edge that transforms into a sweet, syrupy oak profile. Hints of rosewater, dried apricot, ripe oranges, on top of vanilla ice cream, with the nice warming spices going on for some time.
Finish: Medium to long, with the sweet fruit and quince jam along with oak, chocolate, and wood spices, bitter cocoa towards the very end.
A very nice whisky indeed, with the Port finish adding a lovely dimension and adding spice and complexity, available for around 100 quid from MOM.