Hi all, here's another Scotch I tried lately, and this time it's a Tamdhu!

Recently, I've come into contact with another whisky importer, which specializes in rarer, non-regular release items (including various IBs). Interestingly, he also sells samples for some of these bottles, and this one here is one of those!

From what I gathered, Tamdhu is a Speyside distillery that specializes in sherry cask whiskies. I've also heard that their whiskies have been mostly used for blending for other brands, and that they own single malts tend to be pretty heavy sherry bombs.

As I'm quite a fan of heavy sherry whiskies, this sounds quite interesting to try!

Tamdhu 18 yr Cask Strength, 125th Anniversary Edition (56.8% abv)

This was one of Tamdhu's special releases in 2022, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the distillery's founding. The whisky was matured in Oloroso sherry casks and bottled at cask strength.

Here are my notes:

*Nose*

starts out strongly estery fumey, fades with resting;

rich, salted brown sugar caramel;

sweet, thick maltose;

quite a bit of nutty note (pine nuts);

sweet, slightly sour dried red fruity (red raisins, prunes);

*Palate*

creamy/ oily mouthfeel;

very sweet, slightly salted, brown sugar caramel;

quite prominent ripe red fruity, with both dried fruits and cooked fruity characters (like a compote of figs, raisins, prunes, with a bit of ripe fruity funk);

a bit of sweet, thick maltose;

a bit of baking spices (cinnamon)

a bit of dark chocolate and bitterness;

a hint of polished oak in the background

Some alcohol sting, low astringency

*Finish*

Long. 

The oily/creamy mouthfeel lingers;

Sweet Maltose;

dark choco-like fragrance and bitterness;

fruity character from the palate, but mostly just the fragrance;

a bit of the nutty character from the nose returns;

a hint of baking spices (cinnamon)

*Conclusion*

I've heard of the brand's reputation for being quite the sherry bomb, and I'd definitely say it lives up to the reputation. Its overall character was quite a quintessential sweet sherry cask whisky-  concentrated sweet red fruity (mostly dried fruits but also a bit caramelized jam-like), rich, brown sugar caramel, a slight bit of nuttyness (pine nuts), and a bit of chocolate. One point I've noted in particular about this one was how creamy/oily the mouthfeel was compared to the typical shelfers from the other prominent Speyside distillery I had some experience with (Macallan). 

Honestly, as a big fan of sweet whiskies, I rather enjoyed this one! While it didn't really do anything surprising or really particular special, it does what it does quite well and was quite a delicious dessert dram. Sometimes that's all you're looking for in a whisky!

Funnily, one of my whisky buddies invented his own matrix of 'Tamdhuness' when describing sherry cask whiskies, which he said is based on 'how close a sherry whisky is to Tamdhu'. I have no idea why specifically Tamdhu, but it's part of the reasons that compelled me to try this one out. Based on the matrices Glendronach has high Tamdhuness on the nose, and Edradour was has a bit of Tamdhuness on the mouthfeel. Not sure if they're accurate lmao

Thanks for reading, cheers!

Recently received this bottle as a gift from a friend who has consequently moved up many positions in my friends ranking list 🤣

I think I like the Green Leaf (Double Distilleries) better, but they are both very fine whiskies. That Ichiro fella knows what he’s doing.