Old Ballantruan, now released with an age statement and distilled at Tomintoul. Colour: Rich gold. Nose: Gently spicy with smokey peat-reek deliciously balanced by a sweeter creamy core. Palate: Some gentle peaty smokiness equipoised with a sweet, creamy, malty backbone. Finish: Climbing finish of sweetness gradually replaced with smokey depth. The two companies which formed Tomintoul Distillery searched the local area for the purest water source and after a year of testing various springs found one on Carn Ballantruan, a hill midway between the village of Tomintoul and Glenlivet, from which water of the highest quality flowed. This was named the Ballantruan Spring. The spring has probably been there for millions of years in this sparsely populated area and was a major discovery for the company which decided to build the distillery adjacent to the water supply. The 50% ABV was selected as being different to the other peated single malt whiskies which were on the market.