Tomintoul 1966-2000 - 34 Year Old - Adelphi - Single Cask 532

Tomintoul is an overlooked distillery at auction, meaning that the distillery’s high quality drams often represent very good value for drinkers. Rescued from Whyte & MacKay in 2000 when it was bought by Angus Dundee Distillers, Tomintoul’s motto ‘The Gentle Dram’ is a good indicator of what to expect from most modern bottlings.

It might be thought that Tomintoul’s misfortune is to be a purveyor of subtle, nuanced Speyside whisky in an era where boisterous heavily-flavoured peaty or sherried whiskies are in vogue, but the distillery also makes a heavily-peated malt whisky of its own which is marketed as Old Ballantruan.

At auction, long-aged independent bottlings of Tomintoul and official releases from the 1970s or early 1980s often reveal a slightly more robust, fruity, waxy Highland style, and generally offer an impressive bang for your buck.

The Adelphi name was revived in 1993 by Jamie Walker, the great-grandson of Archibald Walker, founder of the original 19th century Adelphi whisky distillery in Glasgow which had closed in the 1930s. 

The new Adelphi whisky company, with Charles Maclean serving as Chief Nose on the tasting panel, quickly established themselves at the forefront of the new generation of independent whisky bottlers, releasing a string of top class casks of single malt and grain whiskies, with early highlights including outstanding bottlings of long-aged Ardbeg and Springbank.

Jamie Walker sold Adelphi in 2004 to investors Keith Falconer and Donal Houston, the latter of whom is laird of Ardnamurchan Estate in the Highlands. Adelphi began construction of their Ardnamurchan distillery in 2013 and released the first Ardnamurchan single malt whisky in 2020.