Tamdhu 1994 13 Year Dun Bheagan (Ian MacLeod)

So I decided to open an official Tamdhu distillery bottle, and a Tamdhu from an independent bottler to see how the two stacked up. Would they be completely different or share much of the same characteristics? This is a 13 year old Tamdhu from the Dun Bheagan label from William Maxwell & Co. I couldn’t find much information on this bottler, except that they are now Ian Macleod Distillers, which is the same group that owns the Tamdhu distillery today. So it kinda comes full circle. Anyways this single malt was distilled in February of 1994, matured 13 years in cask #90341 with a Madeira finish and became one of 756 bottles in 2007. There is no info as to what type of cask was used for the primary maturation, or the length of the Madeira finishing. Pure speculation here, but I would guess 12 years more or less in a refill bourbon barrel and 12 months more or less in a first fill Madeira cask. Lots of honey and barley sugar on the nose with a strong sweetness, both of the fruity and savory varieties. A ton of oranges along with apricots, peaches and clementines. Salted caramels, brown sugar and molasses. Cinnamon apples, apple pie, pears and green grapes. Honey Nut Cheerios, oak, a very light almond and nutmeg with a touch of pistachio. Black tea leaves, green grass and fresh fennel root at times. A somewhat damp earthiness. Chocolate licorice and vanilla at the bottom of the glass. Oranges and apple pie are the dominant notes here, a very fruity and confectionary nose. Incredibly strong orange/orange peel notes on the palate. Honey, malt and a very light peat (more earthy than any sort of smoke), slightly vegetal. Tannic oak and dry white wine, it ranges from sweet to somewhat bitter to a little too bitter. Salty, lightly spiced, almonds and pistachios. The bitterness becomes more apparent the more you drink, but the fruitiness is never lost. Underripe pears, green apples, overcooked (but not burnt) pie crust and some pickled ginger. A medium bodied mouthfeel that is creamy and lightly oily, tongue coating and dry. The finish is medium long to long with oranges, apple pie, almonds, oak, honey, slightly sweet and slightly bitter. This has to be the most heavily orange influenced whisky I’ve ever had. Now I’ve never had anything else that was Madeira finished, so I can only assume it’s from that. So very different than any other Tamdhu I’ve tried. The nose is quite good and I would say it edges out the 12, but the palate is too inconsistent. On some nights it was great, others it started off pretty good but ended in nothing but bitterness. On a good night, like tonight, I would rate this a 4.25, but on a bad night I wouldn’t go any higher than a 3.5. Since there were more good drams than bad, I’ll give it a 4, but still choose the official 12 year old over this one because even though it was a step behind on the nose, the palate was consistently better than this 13 year old. The two share much in common if you just look at individual notes, but the dominance of each note side by side could easily give the impression that these are from two different distilleries. Cheers