A couple of Tamdhus


August 5, 2017

Angus's Corner
From our casual Scottish correspondent
and guest taster Angus MacRaild

A couple of Tamdhus

Tamdhu 9 yo (58.4%, Creative Whisky Co for The Good Spirits Co. Ex-bourbon barrel finished in ex-Koval bourbon casks, 270 bottles)

Apparently this was matured in bourbon before being finished in smaller bourbon casks previously used by Koval distillery. Is that a double-bourbon Scotch? Discuss... answers on a postcard... Colour: Light yellow. Nose: Lots of fresh oak - as you might imagine - juicy fruit bubblegum, some sawdust, ground green pepper, a little caraway and some liquorice. With time perhaps some icing sugar and a few squished jelly babies (I like to start with the head, what about you Serge?) The sweetness dominates on the nose and kind of cloaks the alcohol quite well. With water: These jelly babies are growing up fast! The pepper becomes white and there’s some vanilla pods. Mouth: Quite prickly start with not a little vanilla but there’s a lot of juicy spice as well. Some cream soda, custard, crumbled digestive biscuits, with time a little bit of cereal poking through. Quite dense and sticky on the palate. Notes of apple crumble and Blinis (peach syrup and Prosecco; it’s refreshing) with more caraway and some little flashes of clove rock and even a little turmeric. Still quite peppery. With water: some slightly drier notes of muesli emerge with water which is quite refreshing after such sweetness. Some green fruits, builder’s tea and a grassy lick of rapeseed oil. Finish: quite long and a little more balanced between the spice, the sweetness and the obvious wood influences. Comments: It’s very much a dram driven by its wood shenanigans so not really my cup of tea. However, I think it’s a technically well executed example of that vanilla-driven style of whisky. Should please lovers of sweeter whisky. SGP: 731 - 81 points.

Tamdhu ‘Batch Strength’ (58.5%, OB, Batch 2, 2015) The L-code confirms this was bottled in 2015 - unless they’ve changed the way L-codes work and it wasn’t. In which case I’m sorry. What does ‘Batch Strength’ mean? If I was feeling cynical I might have hazarded that it was a marketing invention to find something other than ‘cask’, ‘natural’ or ‘marrying’ strength. But then, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I am never cynical... Colour: Light amber. Nose: A pleasingly leafy and earthy sherry. A little spice; a little milk chocolate; a little dark fruitiness - clean but slightly jaggy in profile. Some black coffee, cocoa and oddly a little rhubarb crumble. A little simple maybe. With water: Drier, more towards freshly baked brown bread, cornmeal and something slightly yeasty. With time a little gravelly minerality emerges which is very pleasant. Mouth: Treacle sponge pudding, mulling spices, cinnamon stick, orange liqueur, molasses. Quite a sticky mouthfeel with little flourishes of green fruits. Again, a little simple perhaps. Some notes of honey, black pepper and olive oil. With water: as on the nose the water balances out the sweeter aspects of the sherry and brings forth a slightly drier profile. All on nuts, dark chocolate, a little balsamico and some slightly saline notes that recall a good Manzanilla. A lot more complexity with water. Notes of peanut butter, wood spice, raisins and espresso. Finish: decent length, drying, some dark berry fruits and a nice, lingering earthiness. Comments: I like it, but I feel it’s a bit singular and simplistic in style. Decent, modern sherried whisky but I feel there are better things around the £60 mark, which is where this one sits pricewise in the UK. SGP: 532 - 82 points.