In March 2019 Tamdhu expanded its core range with this Tamdhu 15 Year Old. It has been matured in Oloroso sherry casks made from American and European oak.
The distillery is widely promoting their exclusive focus on sherry casks, backed with a campaign From Spain to Speyside, explaining how they source their casks and how they are seasoned with sherry. More importantly, we can’t deny the resulting whiskies have been pretty good so far.
Tamdhu 15 yo (46%, OB 2019, 24.000 btl.)
Nose: a modern, rounded and thick nose. Dense fruitcake, dried figs, plenty of raisins and rich toffee. Apfelstrudel with hints of vanilla. Some brighter notes of orange peel and red berry jam. Earthy spice underneath, mainly cinnamon and nutmeg.
Mouth: quite jammy although there are strong spicy notes too. Baked pears, oranges, blackcurrant. Toasted walnuts, Heering cherry, bitter almonds. Cinnamon and hints of coffee. Peppered lemon in the end.
Finish: long, rich, on dried fruits, chocolate and peppery oak.
A modern, rich and vibrant sherry profile. The active oak is balanced by enough juicy fruits. Quite a benchmark in this genre I would say, overtaking recent GlenDronach in my book. Let’s just hope they make consistent follow-up batches. A tad expensive, but recommended nonetheless. Available from The Whisky Exchange (where I bought my sample) or Master of Malt for instance.