At Tomintoul, only the Oloroso finish sits under its room

The yardstick first, since every line below leans on it. For any given whisky the model collects the ten others it rates nearest in flavour and takes the midpoint of their prices; that midpoint is the bottle's room, the going rate for its style. A warning rides along with it this week: on five of the six the matched set is only a loose fit, so the gaps that follow are arrows, not measurements to the dollar. The Peated alone is tightly matched and carries no such asterisk. Across the brand the tags centre on roughly $181, pulled upward by a couple of dear bottles near the top.

One whisky clears that loose-fit warning by sheer margin, and it is the Seiridh Oloroso. Its $92 tag comes in about $32, call it a third, beneath a room near $124, and a hole that wide does not close just because the peer set is fuzzy. It drinks as softly as the number hints: chocolate and butterscotch, caramel rounded right down, a light oloroso sweetness that never tips into a drying sherry grip. A gentle, sub-hundred-dollar sherried Speysider keeping company that costs half again as much is exactly the find to lead with, and it is where I would send anyone first.

The firmest number in the set belongs to the Peated, the one bottle here the model lines up against a close-matched group. At $90 it lands about $2, near enough 3%, above a room of $88, which is to say level. For a smoky whisky it is remarkably unbothered: soft wood and a quiet smoke laid over fruit, the peat a suggestion more than a statement. Anyone after a lightly peated Speysider who would rather pay about what the style is worth, on a figure that holds up rather than a hunch, should begin right here.

From there the tags pull ahead of the rooms. The 16-year-old is $181 where its neighbours sit near $119, about $62 or some 52% over, a lot to ask for a malt this mild, all gentle fruit, caramel, a little almond and an anise edge. The Cigar Malt reads much the same on price, $180 against a room near $123, about $57 or 47% over, though the glass is a step bolder, carrying raisin and cake sweetness, a sour note and a thread of smoke. Loose peer fit sits on both, so take the figures as direction rather than gospel; the direction is plainly upward, and in each case you are paying well over the neighbourhood for the years and the name.

The two priciest bottles then split. The 21-year-old is the quiet surprise, pitched almost exactly on its room: $369 against $368, a single dollar over and effectively level. Its room is a costly one, so this is no bargain, but it is honest for what it is, a floral, sweet older malt with a barley backbone and a little spice, asking what its peers ask and not a dollar more. The 25-year-old is the one that breaks ranks outright. At $733 it towers about $387, roughly 112%, over a room near $346, better than double. Every account the data holds calls it lovely, gentle and honeyed, floral, with ripe fruit and the soft cocoa depth long years in oak tend to leave. Lovely or not, that is a trophy's price, paid for age and occasion rather than for value.

Set the six side by side and Tomintoul's value has shrunk to the very foot of the range. The Seiridh is the standout, honest money for a sherried malt punching above its tag. The Peated sits squarely on its room. Everything above them, save the level-pegged 21, asks a premium over the neighbourhood, steeply so right at the top. The loose-fit flag on five of six is not a detail to tuck out of sight: the model is plainly less certain of Tomintoul's company than of most distilleries'. Even so, an arrow pointing one way on the Seiridh, backed by a firm reading on the Peated, adds up to a signal worth using.

To buy it, then. For value and for unfussy drinking, the Seiridh Oloroso at $92 is the obvious pick, a sherried Speysider a third under its room, bearing in mind the exact gap is a pointer rather than a promise. For the most dependable value on the shelf, the Peated at $90 carries no asterisk, gently smoky and sitting right on its neighbours' money. The 16 at $181 and the Cigar Malt at $180 only make sense if the mild or the festive style is specifically the thing you want, since both charge well over their rooms for it. The 21 at $369 is a fairly priced older malt for a drinker with the years in mind and the budget to match. The 25 at $733 is a shelf trophy, and it does not pretend to be anything else.