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Cù Bòcan Signature Single Malt Whisky. Highland Scotch Whisky Matured in Virgin Oak, Bourbon and Sherry Casks. 46% Alcohol/Vol 70cl Glass Bottle in Gift Box, Whiskey Gift Sets for Men, Scottish Gifts

£28.125£56.25Clearance
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The decision was made to repeat this ‘week of peat’ every year during the last week of production, albeit that since then they have changed the barley variety, ppm and even the cut point and yeast strain from time to time. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services. Tomatin Cù Bòcan gets its name from a legendary spectral dog named Cù Bòcan. Tale tells that the dog has haunted the Inverness based Tomatin village for many years. According to the legend, the dog dissolved as smoke over the moorlands when a distillery worker tried to touch it. Essentially, this is a whisky made from scratch, which just happens to be produced at Tomatin. It’s much more than just a Tomatin made with lightly peated barley. From what I know, it started in 2005, when for the last week of the production season, Tomatin decided to do something different. Bringing in a batch of lightly peated (15 ppm) Optic barley, they created a lightly peated whisky in its own right, using different fermentation methods, different distillation runs and, particularly in recent years, different casks compared to what Tomatin usually does. That is the reason why this single malt whisky with no age statement has been peated to 15 ppm. Tomatin makes a peated expression for one week every year instead of their traditionally unpeated whiskies.

That my friends, was a story I read on the side of a box of Cù Bòcan Single Malt Whisky, produced by the Tomatin distillery in a small village nestled in the Highlands of Scotland. I was on a road trip through Scotland and had stopped to spend the night by the River Spey, and happened into a Public House and Inn called the Mash Tun. I asked Kevin the bartender to assemble a flight of some excellent whiskies that had peat smoke in their flavor profiles.

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On the face of it, it’s one of those potential bottles where peat smoke and sherry meet and the world is at peace. However, this is more subtle and therefore requires a word of caution. Do not buy this if you’re a peat head. The smoke element is very subtle indeed. Regardless of pricing, an age-stated Cù Bòcan is, not in the least for the people over at Tomatin, a bit of a big deal. Because summarising Cù Bòcan as ‘peated Tomatin’ is really cutting a few essential corners and therefore selling it a bit short. Scott Adamson, our Blender and Global Brand Ambassador, says of the release: “Whisky matured in rum casks can be incredible, but rum casks are notorious for their variable quality and securing a consistent supply is almost impossible. Therefore, this permanent addition to the Cù Bòcan range will be released in batches. With each batch we will explore casks from across the Caribbean, each with their own unique origin, history, and influence. Batch #1, distilled on the 10th of December 2010, has been finished in a mix of rum casks from Guyana and Barbados. These islands are known for the use of molasses and pot still distillation. Producers in Barbados, regarded by many as the birthplace of rum, blend pot still and column still rums making the island worthy of its reputation for well-aged, balanced expressions. The casks sourced from Barbados provide a range of fresh tropical fruits and invigorating maritime notes. Known for the famed Demerara River, Guyana is home to some of the fullest bodied rums in the Caribbean. These casks have added more depth and warming spice.” Each Cù Bòcan Single Malt aims to open up the world of lightly peated whisky, offering an exploration in the subtleties of smoke, the character of the casks and the mastery of maturation. The range is always non-chill filtered and natural in colour. Cù Bòcan 12 Year Old has been bottled at 46% Abv. and is a limited batch release.

I got the tip off from a pal on this one, but that pal is known for loving sherry and bold, brash, potently-flavoured face-punches so my expectations were measured. I needn’t have worried. This is one of those bottles I’m glad I took heed and bought, even when I, at first, thought it was pricey. I’m also glad I opened it straight away; it very much enhanced my winter. Cù Bòcan has stalked residents of the remote Highland village of Tomatin for centuries, his legend embellished by the hellhound's increasingly fractious behaviour. A wood bomb on arrival. Old, dry smoke and a very dry mouthfeel. Nuts and dried fruit. Adding water cranks things up to 11, yet it also reveals that slightly delicate mixture of subtle smoke and fruit from the spirit rather than the cask. The finish is long, deep and oaky, again with the wood polish and a cold, second-hand smoke. Taste: here peat and smoke is much more intense, but writing a more intense, I mean simply palpable, it is still very mellow and subdued, we are still accompanied by citruses and spices, besides cloves we have also ginger, the initial sweet maltiness changes towards the spiciness, there is pepper, sweet chili, a bit of oak, we also have honey accents, vanilla and nuts However, when trying to put the pieces of the Cù Bòcan puzzle together, there were a few bits that didn’t really fit. For instance: Tomatin started with the production of peated malt in 2005, yet there are several ‘vintage’ Cù Bòcan releases from the late Eighties. How do they fit in? And has the ppm always remained at the same level, as I clearly remember trying some more peat forward expressions as well. Going through several of my Malt Whisky Yearbooks didn’t shed new light on this, so instead I approached Tomatin’s blender and global brand ambassador Scott Adamson for some clarification. This cleared up a few things. Summarising what he had to say, it comes down to what follows.only to see the ghostly spectre - Cù Bòcan - dissolve before his eyes leaving nothing but a vacuum of deathly silence and an inky blue cloud of smoke, soon spirited away across the peat moorland… Cu Bocan is a lightly peated whisky from the Tomatin distillery, matured in three types of casks: virgin oak, ex-bourbon and ex-Sherry. Peated to 15ppm.

And what you’ll find about these old tales is that many times, they are cautionary tales - such as the version I just read which is a cautionary tale of what can happen when you give in to the devil.But as far out as it was, I tried to imagine someone trying to run down these roads at night, especially when they were coming from miles away. I asked Duncan about the witches experience, Introducing a brand new age stated whisky to the range… Cù Bòcan 12 Year Old. For this release we’ve used Caribbean rum casks for maturing this expression which, combined with our subtly smoky spirit, has resulted in flavours of grilled pineapple, sea salt, ginger and white chocolate. The perfect dram for the Summer, Cù Bòcan 12 Year Old transports us to long Scottish Summer nights, spent with friends by a campfire on the beach. Suddenly, every distillery I was visiting was filling me full of great story ideas. And when I returned home, I started to research some of the fun stories I had scribbled down in my notes (okay, I actually used Google Keep, but stay with me). Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.

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