I guess we were blessed.

Tomatin 50

The Tomatin 50 was bottled for the distillery’s 125th anniversary; the precious liquid was encased in an elegant handblown Glencairn crystal decanter. The cask (number 30040) has yielded exactly 125 bottles after all these years, and at 44% ABV, it is highly covetable though at a lofty price of SG$28,080.

“The Tomatin 50 was distilled at a time when the majority of the spirit we were producing was destined to be sold to blenders and bottled as a three, maybe five-year-old whisky,” Scott Adamson, Global Brand Ambassador & Blender at Tomatin Distillery, tells us. “This cask is a survivor and is a testament to the generations of custodians who have strived to ensure that we have a small number of casks of very old whisky for future drinkers to enjoy.”

How does it taste?

The nose is rich and aromatic, tantalising and heady. On the palate, there is first a welcoming hint of apricot, orange and apples, before the elixir reveals a potent blend of nuts, chocolate and dried fruits. The spices start to up the ante after that just as the Olorosso sherry makes a play. The mouth-fill is robust and full-bodied. The finish is intense, sweet and lingering.

 👉🏽

Shirakawa 1958

Can anyone here remember the year 1958? 

• NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration is formed.
• 14-year-old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship. 
• Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.
• Brazil (featuring Pele) beat Sweden 5–2 to win the World Cup in Sweden.
• The fabled Shirakawa 1958, the earliest known vintage Japanese whisky to ever be bottled, is discovered. It’s also the sole single malt whisky to ever be released from the renowned Shirakawa Distillery. This single malt with a rich history is bottled at 49% abv and there are only 1,500 bottles. 

The price is an eye-watering SG$38,000 per bottle.

There’s more to its mysterious provenance. “The Shirakawa 1958 represents one of the most significant spirits discoveries of all time; that the last existing parcel of stock from a long-lost Japanese distillery should become the only single malt ever released by the company is remarkable. If this single malt from 1958 was never discovered, the name Shirakawa would have faded from memory. Now, it has cemented its place as one of the legendary names in Japanese whisky and as a true pioneer in the category,” says Scott Adamson, Global Brand Ambassador & Blender at Tomatin Distillery (the company is the worldwide distributor of the 1958). 

The Shirakawa Distillery was built in the Fukushima Prefecture in 1939 by Daikoku Budoshu and purchased by Takara Shuzo in 1947. Operating for nearly six and a half decades, it produced malt whisky between 1951–1969, one of the first distilleries in Japan to do so. The majority of the whisky produced was used in Takara Shuzo’s flagship ‘King’ blended whisky brand. The Shirakawa Distillery was demolished in 2003.

So how does it taste?

This exceptional dram is complex and layered. I discovered exotic incense and leather on the nose. On the palate, fruity and citrusy notes developed into rich nutty, spicy flavours with just a hint of peat. Overall, it’s like an old study in the tropics; you imagine old fusty couches, leather-bound first editions and a butler at call. That this whisky even exists is remarkable; to be able to taste it is a real privilege.

Both the Tomatin 50-Years-Old and Shirakawa 1958 can be purchased at The Whisky Store as well as the whisky bars that are under the Quaich Bar group.

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