Just as many people have soft spots for certain flowers or breeds of dog, I have a soft spot for certain distilleries – and consequently their whiskies. One such is Tullibardine, prominent beside the A9 at Blackford in Perthshire.
For centuries it was a brewery (famously brewing the wedding tipple for the 1488 coronation of the teenage King James IV), then lay derelict in the mid-20th Century, was rebuilt as a distillery by Charles Delme Evans after the war, distilling from 1948-49.
For the past decade it has been owned by the French family firm Picard, who converted the adjacent Eaglesgate Shopping Centre into an enlarged visitors’ centre, warehouse, bottling hall and cooperage.
Like many distilleries, Tullibardine has moved into special “finishes”, with the whisky spending its early years in ex-bourbon casks before being “finished” for months or years in ex-sherry, port or wine casks, producing very different final malts.
Proving the point, Tullibardine has brought out four miniatures of their “Signature” range in a smart presentation case. All are no-age-statement, bottled at 43% – Sovereign, the standard malt, solely casked in ex-bourbon barrels, plus three “finishes”, namely 225 Sauternes, 228 Burgundy and 500 Sherry – the litre capacity of the casks used.
Sampling them proved a fascinating taste-athon. The Sovereign was smooth, slightly sweet, with hints of vanilla, barley sugar and peaches. As Sauternes is among the sweetest of French white wines, that malt was also slightly sweet, with a deep flavour and smoothness that made it, to me, the most more-ish of the four.
The 228 Burgundy was a more robust, spicier, darker-hued, male whisky, with hints of aniseed and grapefruit, plus a long, lingering finish. Definitely what aficionados term an after-dinner malt.
The 500 Sherry was most akin to the Burgundy – strong, robust, spicy, with hints of toffee and dates and, again, a long finish.
Packaging the four as miniatures is an excellent idea – an eye-catching gift but also a good way of choosing the Tullibardine you like best without buying four full bottles. The pack costs £20, available from the distillery, selected retailers and on the net.
Aiming to cut their carbon footprint, Tullibardine have just adopted much lighter, but very stylish, cardboard packaging for full bottles of the “Signature” range.
More in this series:
How the Loch Lomond distillery became a front-runner in the Scotch industry
