Cù Bòcan Creation #9: Sweet, Salty and Seventeen Years in the Making

Sweet and salty popcorn is an unlikely description for a whisky that has spent more than 17 years in cask. Having tasted Cù Bòcan Creation #9, though, I can see exactly why Tomatin chose it. The buttery sweetness and touch of salt are there, along with gentle smoke, fresh fruit and a dry, spicy finish.

This is what I enjoy about the Cù Bòcan Creations series. The team keeps coming up with cask combinations that make me curious to taste the result. For the ninth release, they have brought together whisky matured entirely in American virgin oak with a second parcel finished in Manzanilla sherry casks. It is a combination that works very well.

The red and white packaging resembles a popcorn box, which suits the whisky’s character, although the maturation details are what really caught my attention.

Seventeen years in new oak

The larger share of Creation #9 spent its entire maturation in American virgin oak. That is a considerable commitment to new wood. Given that much time, oak can become overbearing, so I was interested to see how much influence it had here.

There is certainly plenty of vanilla, caramel and warm spice, but the whisky retains freshness. The buttery sweetness is especially appealing, and the oak becomes drier towards the finish without dominating everything that comes before it.

The remaining whisky spent 13 years in refill hogsheads, followed by four and a half years in Manzanilla casks. Calling that a finish almost understates it. Four and a half years is a substantial part of this whisky’s maturation, giving the second set of casks plenty of time to influence the spirit.

Manzanilla is a pale, bone dry sherry made from Palomino grapes in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, on Spain’s Cádiz coast. It is worth remembering just how different it is from the sweeter styles of sherry when considering what its casks might contribute to a whisky.

Here, the Manzanilla component brings a savoury, lightly saline quality that balances the richer sweetness of the virgin oak. There is toasted almond, too, alongside citrus and dry wood. The combination explains the popcorn reference rather better than the packaging alone.

Tomatin’s distillery manager, Jamie Muir, describes the virgin oak as providing a “deep, sweet backbone”, with the Manzanilla adding a “salty, savoury edge”. That is very much how I found it.

Vanilla and buttery caramel were the first aromas I noticed, followed by toasted almond and sweet popcorn. There is honey, a little coconut and gentle peat smoke behind the sweeter notes.

The palate follows through on that. The popcorn character is clear, but apple and lemon bring a freshness. Cinnamon and toasted oak become more apparent as the sweetness eases, along with that slightly salty, savoury quality.

I like the level of smoke here. It is easy to pick out, yet leaves room for the fruit and nutty flavours. With so much happening in the casks, a more forceful peat character could have made this a very different whisky.

The finish is drier than the opening flavours suggest. Caramel gives way to warm spice and toasted oak, with a little salinity lingering. It is this balance that makes Creation #9 so enjoyable. The sweet popcorn description is accurate, but it only tells part of the story.

A winter whisky from Tomatin

Cù Bòcan dates back to a short production run in 2005, when Tomatin used lightly peated barley during its final week of distilling that year. The first release under the Cù Bòcan name followed in 2013, and the spirit is still made in limited batches each winter.

The name means “ghost dog”, after a spectral hound said to haunt the village of Tomatin. Since its launch, the brand has given the distillery a chance to experiment with different approaches to maturation. Creation #9 is its oldest expression to date.

The time involved is easy to overlook when the bottle arrives dressed for a cinema outing. More than 17 years in virgin oak, and four and a half years finishing the other component, represent some patient decisions. I find that as interesting as the choice of casks.

Bottled at 46% ABV, Creation #9 has no added colour and is not chill filtered. There are 3,800 bottles worldwide, with aUK price of £45.

At that price, there is a lot to like. The age is noteworthy, but it is the flavour that would persuade me to buy it: buttery sweetness, gentle smoke and enough freshness and dry spice to keep the balance right.

I love that the Creations series continues to give me something different to consider. This one does exactly what Tomatin says it will, and does it with enough detail to reward a little time in the glass. Popcorn is optional.

Cù Bòcan Creation #9 | 46% ABV | Announced UK price £45 | 3,800 bottles worldwide