Cù Bòcan 12 Year Old Caribbean Rum Cask

Cù Bòcan (pronounced ‘coo-bock-can’) is the name for Tomatin Distillery’s smoky series of single malts, and the name is from a local legend about a ghost-like dog that wanders the Scottish Highlands – though once it’s touched it disappears into a cloud of smoke. Tomatin distils its peated barley for the series during just one week a year in the winter, so each batch is limited, as is the case with this 12 Year Old.

The newest addition to the Cù Bòcan range this year, it shows a first for the smoky whisky with a rum cask maturation! This is the first batch, distilled in December 2010, which spent its final days in a mix of rum casks from Guyana and Barbados, with the former adding full-bodied spicy notes, and the latter bringing fresh tropical fruits and maritime hints. As such it’s a decidedly summery dram, albeit a gently warming one.