Blind tasting: Tobermory 10 and Royal Brackla 21

[Alexppp]

Last night I had my wife pour me two drams of her choice from my collection without telling me what they were, and here are my impressions:

First off was the Tobermory 10. I had no idea what it was, partly because I forgot I even had a bottle! I was stumped from the beginning, as it tasted like an oilier, 'dirtier' Speyside - my initial guess was Arran 10 but that wasn't with any great conviction as the Arran is sweeter. Further guesses were wider of the mark because as I said I didn't even know I had a Tobermory, but I was very impressed overall, and was happy to be 'reunited' with this dram to my surprise.

My conclusion is that it's very much underrated. Especially now that Ledaig is coming more to the fore as a top drawer peated whisky, Tobermory is a hidden gem - not spectacular, but an unpretentious, honest malt that's not lacking in character.

The Brackla 21 I was very disappointed with. On the nose my initial impression was that it was a Glenfarclas that had gone off, but I identified it as soon as I had the first sip. It wasn't a whisky that had impressed me before and it certainly didn't do so now - I wouldn't even pay the £40-ish I paid for it when it was wrongly priced on Amazon, let alone the £100+ that it normally costs.

[Charlie]

I had noticed that the Tobermory 10 had got a little difficult to get hold of and when you can get it you are now looking at £50 a bottle, I did enjoy it although I wouldn't say it was £50 worth of enjoyment.

[Whisky Rogue]

I do like the Tobermory 10 and I had noticed that it had got difficult to get hold of and its pricing had jumped up, The Whisky Exchange do have it at £50 but they also have miniatures at £3.75 which is reasonable if anyone is looking to try it. https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/search?q=Tobermory

It is some price for the Tobermory 18 and 21

[Alexppp]

Ah, I hadn't noticed the Tobermory was so expensive now - my bottle is from last year, it was under £30 I think at Co-op.

[William]

Alexppp the Tobermory distillery production stopped back in March 2017 to allow for two years of refurbishment but visitor facilities remained open. At the time they did say that availability of both Tobermory and Ledaig single malt whisky would not be effected during the refurbishment but when I spoke to someone from owners Distell International on Saturday I asked them about the Tobermory 10 and they said it was discontinued and that there would be something new coming from Tobermory but they couldn't reveal what just yet.
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There's no bad whisky. Just good whisky and better whisky.

[mistah]

Shame about the Royal Brackla. I also picked up a couple of bottles when Amazon mispriced it. Whiskyfun gave it a fairly decent review so I was looking forward to opening a bottle - although to 40% strength was a bit of a warning sign.

[Charlie]

I also got some of the Royal Brackla 21 when Amazon had it cheap and thought it was pretty good and considered it a bargain and wished I had got more at the time.

[Alexppp]

Thanks for the info William, I didn't know the Tobermory 10 is being distontinued. Let's hope the Ledaig 10 stays as it's also a good one (though less under the radar than Tobermory).

[MattS]

Very interesting and honest read to see an experienced malt man do this. Would be fascinating to read more similar.