Tamdhu 18 Year

When Tamdhu relaunched as a super distillery, they started bottling their single malts as they grew in time. First it was the 10 year old; then the 12 and 15, and really not too long ago, they have released two 18yo expressions, one of them a cask strength. This 18yo is actually a limited edition, not the cask strength one, but it has a decent 46.8%abv, with a lovely natural copper color. On the nose, it has a lovely orange chocolate; incredible caramel, fancy toffee, vanilla cookie dough bathed in dulce de leche. Toffee, caramel, dulce de leche. It has all the classic Tamdhu notes on it. Thick vanilla. On the palate, it is exactly a dulce de leche ice cream. Spices have risen, red chilli. Vanilla. Aftertaste is not complex, it gave me only two notes, but both were very enjoyable: Red chilli and dulce de leche. It is actually super spicy. Overall, Tamdhu has managed to increase their typical elegance in this one. It feels like your standard Tamdhu, but way fancier. That is not a bad strategy for this distillery, since you know that most whisky drinkers want smoother and improved versions of the whisky they already like, specially when they go to an older expression. Nothing too new here, just a better performance of a very good whisky. My score for it is 90 over 100.

Sweet mellow comfort Speyside

2022 WS

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Whisky Tasting, 22 July 2022). Nose: Orange, lemon, light spice, dried fruit, sweet raisins. Palate: Fruit cake, Christmassy, orange, buckets of dried fruit, sweet, dried fig, liquorice sweets. Finish: Medium long finish. Nutty, baked goods, dried fruit, light spices (black pepper, allspice, cinnamon). Sherry-sherry-sherry! This is a total sherry bomb! Unctuous and decadent, it's all about the fruit and sherry. Christmas in a glass. A vatting of American and European oak casks that had previously held Spanish Oloroso sherry. Bottled at 46.8%. Came third out of the six drams, with 18% of the final vote for favourite of the night. 88% of those present said they enjoyed the whisky. This received my vote for favourite of the tasting. Tasted on 22nd July 2022 - 125 years and one day after the opening of the Tamdhu distillery.