Cadenhead’s Tomatin 18yo
Authentic Collection 2013 | 54.1% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
A classic case of being brought to life with water
Oops, I Bought A New Guitar.
I did it. Even though I did not really need it, I found a reason to buy it. Does that seem familiar to you?
I am now the owner of a gorgeous 2001 double cut Danelectro. Light as a feather, painted in Champagne sparkle and sounding sharp and bright. I bloody love it.
It joins my 1999, Japanese-made, candy apple red (with matching headstock) Fender Jaguar and a weird Gibson SG Rawpower, which is black and yellow with a maple fretboard, and a ton of mojo.
You see, before all of this whisky business, life was all about music for me. I started playing guitar when I was about 13 years old, and started to learn drums on my own not too long after that. I later studied audio engineering, specialising myself in music production and recording because I realised I wasn’t good enough to become a professional musician. And while I think I was pretty good at this engineering stuff, life got in the way and I took a different path. Don’t get me wrong, I’m perfectly happy with where I am now. But it is true that making music took the backseat these past years. I had to sell my drumkit because of a lack of space and available funds, and I don’t pick up my guitars as much as I used to.
Whisky became my number one obsession. Sure, I still love music, and not to brag, but should you wander into my bottle shop, I bet you’d find the playlist more interesting than 99% of all the other shops in the city: but I wasn’t playing and creating music as much as I used to. And recently, I started to feel a bit sad about it. Plugging in my guitar and blasting loud power chords had been such fun for all these years, and such a big part of what I enjoyed in life. I felt bad that I let it slip away.
On top of this, a good friend of mine said he wanted a few of us to play for him in a 1990’s grunge-themed concert for his 30th birthday. That was just the nudge I needed to repair my amp and pick up the axe once again. Guitar is back on the menu. I have a lot of work to do to make up for lost time, but I’m digging it. So, naturally, as I tend to get over fixated and too enthusiastic about any subject I dive into, I felt like buying a guitar was a sensible decision. Mrs Fife wasn’t of the same opinion, but I stood my ground.
So quietly, during this past month, whisky has taken a bit of the backseat. Sure, it didn’t help that I caught a cold in late September and that my nosing capacities didn’t feel as sharp, but getting back to guitar playing took a big chunk of my available time outside of work and, as such, whisky had to step down.
And then it hit me. What if the curve was reversed? What if I ended up not enjoying it as much two years from now? I became afraid, suddenly, that every obsession that I have would replace the previous one.
I realise I have control over this; but still, it’s a little bit frightening. Because I don’t want to lose whisky. Not necessarily for the drink itself, but certainly for the moments and the people. I’ve met some of the best people I know through whisky enjoyment and I don’t want to lose that.
I’m no slave to my hobbies and I can have a few different ones if I want. And I don’t want to stop this whisky thing. I love it too much. If one day I end up straying away from it, well, it will be my choice, and I’m sure I’ll have good reasons for it. As I write this though, I feel like this feeling might just be shaken off by a weekend packed full of great events and people up there in Glasvegas. I can’t wait to see the Five Nations crew, Hughie, Wally and all of the beautiful souls that collectively make the Dramface crew. Not to mention the hordes of Aqvavitae Barflies. It’ll be fuel for the whisky fire.
Review
Tomatin 1994 18yo, Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection, bourbon hogshead, bottled February 2013, 234 bottles, Cask Strength, non chill-filtered, natural colour, 54.1% ABV
£65 paid at auction, secondary only
This is akin to my danelectro, in the sense that I bought it - pretty much like any other bottle of whisky - almost on a whim because the bids were low at auction and it had a good rating on Whiskybase. Let’s see if it can serve as a good warm up for a week-end of distilled festivities.
It’s very important to be properly warmed up.
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
A classic case of being brought to life with water
Nose
Winey fruits. Pears in syrup. Creamy vanilla. Chenin blanc from Montlouis. Cooked apples, tarte tatin. Wee bit herbal as well: earl grey, tea leaves. Preserved lemons.
With water: much fruitier, poached pears, barely ripe lychee, limoncello. More aromatic and better defined.
Palate
Lean, fresh and taut, with loads of citrus upfront. Quite a bit of heat as well, and not massively long. Finishes a tad on the oaky side.
With water: Drastic improvement. Marginally oilier and much longer finish on dry malt and light wood spice.
The Dregs
This is one of these drams where water is almost necessary. It really unlocks it. When taken neat it is a bit jaggy and rough around the edges. I had to work quite hard to get some tasting notes. As soon as I added water - roughly half a teaspoon - it was much easier to take notes and the mouthfeel was greatly improved.
I feel like getting back into writing some tasting notes is helping me get the fire started again after this period of whisky hiatus. I hope I’ll be back in full tasting form this weekend, especially for the Aqvavitae Blind tasting on Sunday. That said, I have a perfect excuse to have a crappy score this time!
Whatever happens, I’m already buzzing and I cannot wait to wake up at 3am and hop on that plane to Glasgow. I hope I’ll see you there!
An especially important musical pairing this one. Let’s go with a recent song I can’t help but play over and over at the moment : Emergency by Deep Sea Diver, from their recent Billboard Heart album.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. AF
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