Highland

Tomatin Cù Bòcan

Tomatin Cù Bòcan

Tomatin currently offers a portfolio largely comprised of age statement whiskies, some of them cask finishes. Cù Bòcan is the name of a legendary hellhound said to roam the area around the village of Tomatin and is also the distillery’s equivalent of their Skunk Works (or, closer to whisky than aircraft, Midleton’s Method and Madness micro distillery). It’s a place where Tomatin can experiment and try things outside their normal wheelhouse. The brand’s tagline is “Unlock the Unusual” and seeks to explore the smokier side of the Highland profile. The distillery distills lightly peated barley in small batches every winter, then matures them in a variety of wine casks before the blending process. The Cù Bòcan represents a long return of sorts for the distillery, as they were one of the first distilleries to move away from using peat to smoke their barley after WWII. 

Tullibardine 15 Year

Tullibardine 15 Year

Tullibardine sits at a location in the Highlands that hearkens a proud history of brewing and distilling – legal and illegal – back to the 15th century. The distillery itself was founded in 1949 and sources its water from the Danny Burn, originating in the nearby Ochil Hills. The Tullibardine 15 was distilled in the first years after the distillery resumed production in 2003 after closing in 1995. It is now independently owned. 

Royal Brackla 16 Year

Royal Brackla 16 Year

From the Cawdor Estate (as in, “Thane of Cawdor,” if you remember Shakespeare’s MacBeth), the Royal Brackla distillery’s fame as the “King’s own whiskey” (circa 1833) brings a new entry to the Scotchology crew: the Royal Brackla 16. Finished in first-fill ex-oloroso sherry casks and bottled at 40% abv (80 proof), this 16-yr old barley malt is one of Dewar’s (Bacardi) series of releases entitled “The Last Great Malts of Scotland.”