Tamnavulin Double Cask

So, I’m getting a jump start on our group trade sampling for our penultimate round. This is actually quite an exciting round IMO- we are mostly down to distilleries that aren’t available in North American or the United States. This bottle, Tamnavulin Double Cask, had to be purchased from an online store based out of London just to be included here. It’s a NAS whisky and while I’m not expecting anything incredible flavor-wise- it is cool knowing most average Joe’s here in the states can’t get their hands on this one. But, then again, we live in a global economy now, so... Let’s talk about Tamnavulin a bit first: they were founded in 1966 and have been primarily used in Whyte & Mackay and Mackinlay’s blends. They were owned by the same group that owned Bruichladdich, Jura and Tullibardine. They closed in 1995, but were refurbished and reopened by United Spirits/UBG Group in 2007 and are currently managed by Whyte and Mackay. They started offering single malts again in 2016. This NAS is bottled at 40% ABV and is from batch #308 (wow, high batch number for a relatively small distillery that’s not super widely distributed...oh well). Double Cask is primarily aged in American Oak before being transferred to Sherry Casks for an undisclosed length of time for finishing. It’s a rich caramel in color (no indication of chill filtering or added color, so I’d assume it is). It makes some oily, yet undefined legs in the Glencairn. The nose is definitely an indicator of young whisky, sherried oak barrels and is kind of similar to Tamdhu, initially. Sadly, the sherry notes fade over time. The palate is somewhat weak due to the low ABV. There’s more sherry sweetness at play but not much oak. Weak is the theme here. The finish is medium-short, sweet and oaky before ending up dry. I guess I’ve grown to expect this from a NAS and at a price point of $36USD (sigh). Overall, it’s average on it’s best day. Mundane on its worst. An interesting attempt, but there’s not enough here to make me want to look into an older, age statement bottle either. At least the group can tick off a distillery that’s not easily attainable. They need to give the ABV a boost for starters and dump the blend mentality IMO. 2.5-2.75 stars. Cheers and thanks for reading.