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

Product Information

In 2005, master distiller Dougie Campbell brought in a load of lightly peated barley (optic at 15ppm) for the last week of production before Christmas. The intention was to use this for blending, but the moment the spirit came out of the still, he was reminded of how Tomatin tasted in the early years of his career and he decided to fill it into first-fill bourbon and first-fill sherry and virgin oak. These three casks continue to form the recipe for their Cù Bòcan Signature expressions. Each Cù Bòcan Single Malt offers 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 15 Year Old, 2022 Edition, has been bottled at 50% Abv. and is a limited batch release with only 3,000 bottles available worldwide.

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. This cookie is set by Rubicon Project to control synchronization of user identification and exchange of user data between various ad services.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. Tomatin Cù Bòcan has been matured in a mixture of Virgin oak, Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Sherry casks. Nothing like THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

When released around 2013, Tomatin were already in the process of rebranding themselves, mixing up and expanding their own core range, choosing a more distinctivebottle design rather than the generic one they used, and I feel it reflected on those first Cù Bòcan releases as well. They were out there, and while the labelling was pretty recognisable with the image of smoke and the ghost dog (which Cù Bòcan translates to from Gaelic, hinting at the story of there being a ghost dog roaming the premises of the distillery), I had the impression Tomatin didn’t really know where they could take things with this range. Our award winning experimental Highland Single Malt is distilled every winter at Tomatin Distillery in limited batches and made with lightly peated Scottish barley for its signature wisp of smoke. In late 2005, after Tomatin had achieved its annual production quota, the Distillery Manager at the time brought in a load of lightly peated barley allowing the distillery to produce its own peated spirit for the last week of the year. As we walked along, Duncan pointed out areas where some of the wolf traps still exist. Apparently wolves used to be a major problem in Scotland. In fact, King James VI made it compulsory that wolves be hunted three times a year to get their populations down. But apparently they did their jobs a little too well. 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. 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.So who is Cù Bòcan? Is it the spirit of one of the Hunter’s dogs, left searching for the Witch of Laggan? Is it the last wolf of Scotland, haunting the area of it’s final demise? Or is it just people with a wild imagination, or just a fun ghost story to tell?

A medium-bodied arrival brings the tingle of cinnamon and nutmeg, with treacle toffee, warming oak and dark chilli chocolate. The fruit is once more orange; candied peel. Some sherry-soaked plums and a little ginger, homemade jam, dark Muscovado and bruised apples with a savoury maple-cured bacon smoke. 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. 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… 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 nutsThat 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. Earlier this year we released our fifth instalment in our “Creation Series”, Creation #5 matured in Andean Oak casks, thought to be the first single malt of its kind. Our Cù Bòcan Creation series pushes the boundaries of Scotch whisky with experimentation, whilst still paying homage to its protective heritage. A leading innovator in cask selection, we’re not afraid to experiment with new cask types, being the first to use Japanese Shochu casks for maturation for a previous Creation release in 2019; Creation #2. 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.

Compelled beyond all natural reason to feel the hound's dense fur he stopped and reached out, hand trembling,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.