A Timeless Collection of Italian Import Tormore 10: Golden Era of Scotch & Beyond

Introduction to the Italian Scotch Market

It is generally regarded that Italy, from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, was the greatest place for Scotch businesses and connoisseurs. Although people across the globe have been drinking scotches for centuries, the mainstream of the consumption was still blended scotch.   Italians were the very first to elevate scotch from merely alcohol drinking to connoisseurship. Importers, restaurants, and bars were able to acquire the best batches and casks before anyone else realized how good they were. Macallan, Laphroaig(1), Springbank, Highland Parks, these now-famous distilleries were struggling to sell their Single Malt, albeit in their best-quality era of production. To name a few: Edoardo Giaccone was the pioneer of bottling scotch in cask-strength for his bar and restaurant. Silvano Samaroli led the trend of bottling single casks, and he is widely regarded as the greatest independent bottler of the 20th century. Fellow bottlers like Pepi Mongiardino (Moon Import), Nadi Fiori (Intertrade, High Spirits), Ernesto Mainardi (Sestante, Silver Seal), Giorgio D'Ambrosio (Bar Metro) are equally worthy in discussion of the Italian and world whisky scene.(2)

The Vintage Tormore Expressions in the 1970s

Established in 1959, Tormore was the newcomer to this industry, intended for industrial-scale production, and serving mainly as blending components for blended whiskies. Commonly speaking, you would not expect much from such a distillery, but retrospectively speaking, Tormore has been a genuine surprise for the connoisseurs, as it produced legendary whiskies like 1966 Samaroli that stands for the pinnacle of scotch. Many of the following expressions may share the blending component contemporary to the legend.

Tormore 10 Year Old Early 1970s (Pre-1973) Sival Import for Edorado Giaccone 43% (3)

Among all these great names mentioned in the first section, Edoardo Giaccone selected his own batch of Tormore 10 years in the early 1970s. This version can easily go for over 1000£ due to its rarity and Giaccone’s name. I am fortunate enough to have had the chance to taste it back in 2020. It was a great selection indeed. It has incredible balance with waxy textures on the palate. Flavor profile lands majorly on the malty side, but paired well with a hint of citrus fruit. A very bold body at 43%. Decent finish, but not giving many extra flavors. Exemplary of the good old times!

Rating: 91(4)

Tormore 10 Year Old 1970s (circa 1972-1974) Dreher Import 43% (5)

Fortunately, Mr. Giaccone and the Sival import were not the only versions that existed. Dreher Imports’ version, in my opinion, had little difference in taste and was equally good, if not slightly better. I tasted it side by side with the Giaccone bottle, and it was seriously holding up to the gold standard. I tasted more sherry-cask influence on this one, and it also comes with a little bit more tannins, adding to the textural complexity. Serge of Whiskyfun presents this version as the best expression of the Tormore distillery, but rated it 84 pts, for which I don’t quite get the latter part, honestly. I still have an unopened bottle myself, and it remains as one of my favorite curations to date. 

Rating: 91.5

Tormoe 10 Year Old 1970s (Pre-1977) UK 43%

I had a very faint memory of this one since it was followed by some stunning bottles. I did remember this one tastes slightly maltier than the two Italian expressions. Less tension and more mellowness on the palate. 

Rating: 90.5

Tormoe 10 Year Old Late 1970s (1977-1979) UK 43% Clear Glass Oval Line Label

This one is probably as rare as the Giaccone version, as Serge of Whiskyfun also put this as “one of the rarest”. This bottle, in particular, is the earliest expression of the Oval Line as it has both imperial and metric measurements on the label. I am fortunate to have opened a bottle myself and drank it to the bottom. It is the boldest of all versions tasted, but it still maintains a very elegant profile.  Notable sherry influence but not tannic at all. Warm and mineral at the same time. Superb dram by all means, especially considering its relatively low price compared to the green bottles.

Rating: 91

Conclusion

Based on the time period within which these versions were produced, Italians did not merely select some batches of Tormore to consume. It was their domestic need for Single Malt Scotch that incentivized the distillery to create and produce these bottles. It is very likely that without the Italians, Tormore would have stayed unknown as a blended whisky supplier for longer periods of time. Tormore 10-year-old 1970s bottlings may as well be the most approachable ones in the representative expressions of the Golden Era of Scotch whisky.

FOOTNOTE

(1.) Laphroaig and Tormore were both owned by Long John Distilleries. They entered Italian market around the same time (Late 1960s- Early 1970s) and shared signature green SC295 glass bottle and white screw cap. 

 (2.) Every one of them is worth a 20-page biography, but I will have to keep it concise here.

(3.) Sival Import did two other versions for Lamia Salvatore and La Veneziana Francesco, which also had the names written in different fonts of characters. It is also a verison that very few have tasted and rara ely seen on the market, neither did the name Lamia Salvatore left any traces on the internet. Any additional information on these name and versions (just to satisfy my curiosity) will be appreciated.

(4.) All ratings given in this and following blogs are based on my Whiskybase record. My rating standard is an aggregation of Whiskybase community consensus and Whiskyfun.

(5.) Some suggested that Dreher import is the earliest version of all. I have not found a very convincing prove for the claim. However I did find Dreher import’s version span till the late 1970s as one bottle in our collection having later version of SC295 glass bottle.