Tamdhu Batch Strength Batch #2 (2016) 70cl Another rich batch of Tamdhu single malt matured in a small number of hand-selected exclusively ex-Sherry casks. This second batch is bottled at 58.5% abv. It is a sherry bomb and a half with the usual zing of Glengoyne / Tamdhu coming from Ian Mcleod. If you like the teapot dram, you will love this only this tastes a little more on the chocolate side. Just delicious! The idea of these releases is to bring fans of this Speyside whisky an experience that's close to sampling straight from a cask in warehouse. 1886 was the year in which Tamdhu came into this world when it was built by a consortium of blenders, and it is for blends that Tamdhu has dutifully made spirit for most of its life. Now owned by Ian Macleod Distillers, there has been a re-focus on this underappreciated single malt that has played an important part for so long in such blends as Cutty Sark and Famous Grouse. In 2017, Tamdhu celebrated their 120th anniversary by releasing a 50 Year Old; their oldest ever bottling. Batch Number: 2 About Tamdhu A major player in blends such as The Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark, Tamdhu was also the spiritual home of the lesser seen (but high quality) Dunhill blend. Although a few official single malt bottlings appeared, including a light-bodied 10-year-old, Tamdhu could hardly be regarded as a frontline player. It has a fragrant fruitiness with notes of honey and apple but sufficient weight to cope with ageing in ex-Sherry casks. Like neighbouring Knockando, this is another late 19th century railway distillery which has quietly provided fillings for blends ever since. It was built in 1897 by a group of blenders headed by William Grant who was both a director of Highland Distillers and, handily enough, on the board of the Elgin bank. The famous distillery designer Charles Doig was the architect. ‘[It is] perhaps the most efficient and designed distillery of its era,’ wrote Alfred Barnard in 1898. Highland Distillers (now Edrington) purchased it outright in 1899, but like many sites it had a rocky time, closing from 1927 and remaining silent for two decades. Soon after its reopening, the old floor maltings were replaced with 10 Saladin boxes, each capable of holding 22 tons of malt. This would become the last site in Scotland to retain this method of malting and was one of the few distilleries in the modern era to malt all of its own requirements (the others being Springbank, Glen Ord and more recently, Roseisle). As well as its own needs, it supplied all of the malt for Glenrothes and the unpeated component of Highland Park’s. Tamdhu grew substantially in the 1970s with four stills added to the original pair, while a change in wood policy in the 1990s saw it being filled exclusively into Edrington’s bespoke ex-Sherry casks. Somewhat surprisingly, Edrington mothballed it in 2010, but two years later, Ian MacLeod stepped in. The firm has since installed new washbacks, built new warehouses, opened a visitors' centre (in the old Dalbeallie station) and released a 100% Sherried 10-year-old. Older releases are planned. 58.5% ABV 70cl
