An unusual OB core expression. I don't see many reviews for it on the sub, and what's there seems to be from pretty long ago. Old Ballantruan is Tomintoul's heavily-peated expression, akin to what Ballechin is to Edradour. It is more heavily-peated than Tomintoul's Peaty Tang. So, heavy peat from an unusual source: the distillery priding it self on "The Gentle Dram". Also unusual is its 50% ABV strength, and the lack of chill-filtering. There is no mention of natural colour, so it's best to assume slight E150A at least. Drank this as part of a socially-distanced local whisky festival.

Distillery: Tomintoul

Region: Speyside

Price: ~15USD/50ml

Cask Type: Undisclosed (Gut says refill sherry based on the colour and hint of sherry funk on the finish)

ABV: 50.0

Chill-filtered: No

Color: 0.5, yellow gold.

Rested for ~10 minutes, before drunk neat in a glencairn.

Nose: Hickory-smoked honey glaze bacon. Holy shit, unmistakable, and immense hit of hoisin sauce! Whole, uncrushed black peppercorns. Dark, dark ale gravy. A dash of water brings out caramel and balsamic.

Palate: Nice texture. Smoky BBQ burnt ends, hoisin sauce, scallions, almost like Peking duck! Water here clears up most of the smoke, makes the Chinese cooking spices more finely-differentiated, but keeps the sweetness. The sweetness gains a sugared persimmon and maple syrup dimension. It also gains a warming heat, but smooth.

Finish: Cola, scallions, more Chinese herbs (cordyceps?), smouldering campfire ashes, mushroomy sherry funk. Water here adds a bit of undiluted grape cordial but one'd need to strain to pick it out.

Conclusion: I have drank several riffs on peated sweet-savoury meatiness, but I must say this is the first time I have gotten this uncanny note of hoisin sauce in something, from an unexpected source (Tomintoul) at that. Respect to Tomintoul for bottling this at 50% NCF with what seems like minimal colour added. Interestingly, the Tomintoul rep told me its peated heavier than Lagavulin. Certainly, its in the ballpark. There's a distinct herbal note to it that's not unwelcome, cutting through the sweet meatiness. If I were to nitpick, maybe a bit more fruitiness would be nice - just a tad bogged down in rich sweet meaty notes a lot of the time, even with water. The meatiness also tends toward being a one-trick pony with the pervading hoisin note (rather than a variety of meats), but it does that one trick very well to its credit.

If it were named by the SMWS: Forgive me, for Hoi have Sinned

Score: 86

Scotch Review #26, Whiskey Network Review #28

H.Y.