INTRODUCING: TORMORE DISTILLERY
THE PEARL OF SPEYSIDE
As you drive up to Speyside from Edinburgh, the turn from the A9 to the A95 brings the first signs for the Speyside Trail - and Tormore appears on your right, white walls catching the light, a green roof against the hills, a pond out front that turns to ice come winter (purposely built to do so, to turn into a curling lake for past distillery workers). An architectural delight, almost alpine, with forest pressing in on every side, as if the building grew there rather than being built.
For a distillery that's been producing since 1961, it's relatively new to people - its whisky has spent most of its life hidden in blends, shaping, balancing, giving complexity. Now, under Elixir Distillers, its moment in the spotlight has come.
Whisky No.1: Tormore timeless
That summer whisky you’ve been looking for, Tormore Timeless brings together whisky matured in both Bourbon (1st fill and refill) and Sherry Casks - the former bringing a luscious sweet vanilla note that perfectly complements peaches and pear notes found in the spirit, the latter bringing structure and a touch of richness.
43% ABV
Georgie’s Tasting Notes: Fresh + summery, custard creams, iced gems and Lipton’s peach iced tea on the nose. I get a greenness on the nose as well, and a little soapy - but in a good way. The palate echoes the nose to a T. A touch of salinity (hello a sprinkling of Maldon sea salt) and a lovely clean, sweet finish with a moreish drying character.
Whisky No.2: Tormore Aged 12 Years
We’re looking at a different cask mix for this whisky - Bourbon, Cream Sherry and Toasted New American Oak casks - so a different dynamic of flavour playing over the fresh new make spirit character. First fill bourbon brings vanilla custard whilst the newly toasted casks bring spice. The one I’m interested in are ex-cream sherry casks - a type of sherry you don’t see as often today in whisky. Cream sherry is made through bringing together dry oloroso with sweet PX sherry - and what’s interesting is that both these original sherry characters can be found in the whisky in a nutty, yet also warming fruitcake guise.
46% ABV
Georgie’s Tasting Notes: New wood (logs cut down for the fire - not on the fire), white peach, caraway, toasted sourdough with thick lashings of butter and apricot jam. Sherberty to taste - peaches and cream, desiccated coconut overnight oats, with a toasted almond (taste and dryness) finish.
ABOUT TORMORE DISTILLERY
When I (Georgie) worked at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society and hosted private tastings, I loved presenting Tormore. One bottle in particular stands out - 105.19 "Mulled Cider and Beef Goulash" distilled in 1983, bottled in 2012, matured in a first-fill ex-sherry hogshead. Whenever I presented it, I'd dig into the depths of ‘The Blue Book’ - The Scotch Whisky Distilleries by Misako Udo, sadly out of print now, but my main resource back then - to find the most incredible facts on Tormore while everyone else was sipping. It was one of those distilleries I was so proud to present, because it was hardly known - rather, a backbone to some of the world’s most adored blends - and, as such, a joy to spotlight and introduce to people. Just like how we are now with the Slow Whisky Club.
As I wrote earlier on, the distillery was built ‘fairly’ recently (fairly in Scotch terms) - 1961. An iconic distillery that for me always marks the start of the Speyside Trail - entryway to ‘whisky land’. Look closer and the place gives away its glorious quirks. A clock that plays four different Scottish tunes, one every quarter hour. Copper rotors catching what light gets through the trees. And buried somewhere in the forecourt, a time capsule with glasses and a bottle of the original Long John blend, sealed away until 2060.
Oh, and the nickname 'the Pearl of Speyside'? That came from an early distillery manager, struck by how the white buildings sat against the green of the Cromdale Hills - the Pearl of Speyside, he called it, and it's stuck.
For most of its life, whisky made at Tormore's has gone into blends - first Long John's own, sold by the case across North America, then Ballantine's, once Allied Distillers took the Long John stable in 1989. Chivas Brothers held it after that, then Pernod Ricard. Tormore kept its head down the whole time, making the same consistent, high quality whisky so adored by blenders - seen as their ‘secret weapon’.
That turn came in 2022, when Elixir Distillers took over - inheriting not just the distillery but decades of stockin its warehouses. Rather than start again, they chose to listen to what was already there.
"Over the last three and a half years, we've been working with the casks that we inherited when we acquired the distillery, and they are maturing beautifully. We've really discovered that Tormore sings a beautiful, harmonious song when it's an American oak, and we've spent time and care re-racking and nurturing those aged stocks to set our intention for the future and create our new core range."
Polly Logan, Tormore Distillery Manager
