Tormore 21 Year (1995), Signatory Vintage
Whisky: Tormore 21 Year (1995), Signatory Vintage
Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside
ABV: 43%
Cask: Hogshead
Age: 21 Years (Distilled 15 June 1995, Bottled 22 Sept. 2016)
Nose: Sweet cereals, apple slices, confectioners sugar, gentle oak, hints of citrus, chalk, and beeswax.
Palate: Medium to light-bodied with pears, old wood, apple blossom, honey, ginger, and hints of walnuts and cream. Herbal and slightly bitter on the back end.
Finish: Medium-length with cereal sugars, cream, and faintly bitter oak.
Score: 5-6
Mental Image: Tea Break from Weeding Grandma’s Garden
Narrative & Notes: A sweet and mild malty-cereal aroma offered cream of wheat cereal and whole grain bread beside apple slices and confectioners sugar. A gentle oak hung in the background with brown sugar, baking spice, and vanilla, while occasional notes of citrus brought to mind instant lemonade, which paired nicely with subtle chalk and beeswax. The palate was medium to light-bodied with a docile mix of pear, old oak, and apple blossoms. Honey and ginger arrived on the mid-palate with a rising sweetness as hints of walnuts and cream ascended to the front. The backend was slightly bitter and herbal as the oak held on through the finish. Medium-length, the finish featured subtle cereal sugars, cream, and faintly bitter oak.
There was no mistaking this for a cask-strength fruit bomb. Still, the choice to bottle this at 43% kept the price low (or perhaps the price was once high but only now seems low as the whisky industry has ballooned in the intervening years) and mellowed out some of the potentially bitter herbal flavors that appeared at the end. I imagine the hogshead used for maturation was a tad on the tired side (maybe even a bit exhausted) without much to give the spirit. However, the quality of the malt still provided enough complexity to keep the dram interesting and enjoyable enough to relax with at the end of the day.
Overall, these older Signatory bottles can still be found from time to time when they have gathered dust on store shelves. They are not the sexiest thing out there, but they are often a price-effective way to try out malts produced in the years between the crisis of the Whisky Loch and the boom years of the last decade.
