Tamdhu 2014 7 Year

A friend of mine got me an exciting Alexander Murray release, a 40%abv Tamdhu 7yo, which is one of my favorite malts. The "Macallan Killer" as i called it has a difficult task here to impress me at a young age and low Abv. Not an expensive bottle at all, i am just wondering if this is going to be any good. This is a good test for Tamdhu's spirit to prove itself. On the nose it starts exactly as it should, with a Milky Way Chocolate note. Snickers, hazelnut, cookie dough. Dulce de leche. After a first sip, i got some floral profile. Cigarrettes, ashes and more chocolate. Smells like an ashtray. There is peat here. Nice. On the palate, it has a rich chocolate profile. Vanilla and some sulphur/metallic notes. It became super sweet on the second sip. Dulce de leche and toffee. Aftertaste is beautifully peated. Mostly Tobacco notes; hints of earthy peat and ashes. Chocolate and hazelnut. Overall this was quite surprsing. For a 7yo dram, at only 40%abv, this is quite complex and very enjoyable. The Tamdhu Toffee/dulce de leche spirit is unmistakeable, and the slight peatiness that has always been publicized but i haven't felt before, is very present here, and i believe it is more noticeable at younger ages. My score for this very good whisky is 89 over 100.

Nose : Very strong oak hits you right off the bat, delving further in you will find caramel apple and dried fruits. Sherry. Palate : dark fruits up front, a bit of vanilla and cinnamon as you get further in. Ends with a bit of a bitter oakiness. Considering this is obe of my first Speyside's i don't have much of a reference to go off of. You can definitely taste the youth. For $40 at total wine this is a decent single malt. I prefer this to Glenfiddich 12 for example. Not something id buy again (mainly because i don't have a Total Wine near me), but overall not bad. Edit : Haven't gone back to this whisky since this review but having more experience with sherried whiskies I would say this is definitely a bottom tier offering (Chill filtered, caramel coloring, 40%abv). Not bad but not near as good as others I've had.