Tomatin Distillery

Founded by John MacDougall, John MacLeish, and Alexander Allan to the south of Inverness, Tomatin distillery was born at an inauspicious time. In 1897 the whisky market was at an all time high, but it was soon to collapse in the Pattison Crash.

Tomatin was an isolated location for a distillery at first, only connected to the wider world by the presence of the newly arrived railway. Some time after it was first built some 30 houses for employees were built on site. A large portion of the distillery’s workforce still lives on site. Under pressure, the distillery first closed in 1906, but resumed production three years later.

From this stumbling start, the distillery shot through much of the 20th century, growing all the while. The number of stills first doubled from two to four in 1956, and more continued to be added year after year. By 1961 there were eleven stills in operation, but the most dramatic expansion was in 1974 when 12 new stills were installed, bringing the total to 23. This made it the largest malt distillery in Scotland at the time.

The whisky market suffered another dramatic turn in the 1980s, and after almost a century, Tomatin Distillery Co. was forced into liquidation in 1985. The following year it became the first ever Scottish malt distillery with a Japanese owner when it was bought by Takara Shuzo Co and Okara & Co.

Tomatin is currently co-owned by Takara Shuzo and Marubeni Corp, who bought out the stake of Okara & Co in 1998. Under the current ownership Tomatin hasn’t pushed for the same level of production it did in the mid 20th century. In 2002 eleven of the stills were decommissioned. Currently the main focus of Tomatin is on promoting its brand as a single malt whisky.

The distillery is currently equipped with a 9 ton mash tun, 12 stainless steel washbacks, and six pairs of stills. With water drawn from the pure Allt-na-Frithe, the distillery currenly has a production capacity of 5 million litres a year.

The core range at Tomatin consists of the Legacy, released without an age statement, as well as the 12, 14, 18, 30, and 36 year old single malts and the Cask Strength. These have mostly been given multiple maturations in a mix of ex-Bourbon, Sherry, and Port casks. The 12 year old has been aged in Scottish whisky, ex-Bourbon, and ex-Spanish Sherry casks to give it a complex, silky character. On the nose it contains spice, malt, and rich fruit. That’s followed by spices, orange and toffee apple on the palate and a long fruity finish.

Other limited releases include the Decades II, made from 21 different casks from different years, the 2009 Carribean Rum finish, the Five Virtues, reflecting the distillery’s process, and more.