You lot have great taste! For this Whisky of the Week, Jess got to sip on a sherried classic – ready to discover Tamdhu 15 Year Old?

Our Whisky of the Week series continues, voted for by you! Didn’t get to have your say in this week’s bottle? Keep an eye on our Instagram Stories so that you can get your vote in for the next.

Tandhu took your fancy this week, specifically its delightful 15 Year Old whisky. You guys must really like me. Or you’re just voting for the content you would like to see. I’m going to believe it’s the former, if it’s all the same to you.

The Tamdhu story

Tamdhu was founded in 1897 by the Tamdhu Distillery Company, which was formed of a consortium of whisky blenders. It makes sense then that, for most of its existence, Tamdhu whisky has been a major blending component, featuring in The Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark.

Highland Distillers (which later became part of Edrington in 1999) purchased the distillery in 1899, though it was closed from 1927 to 1948. Then Tamdhu had a good run, adding four stills to the original two in the 1970s, and switching to its now famous sherry cask maturation in the 1990s under Edrington.

It wasn’t until, after being mothballed in 2009 by Edrington, Ian Macleod Distillers took over in 2011 and restored the brand, putting single malts front and centre. This kicked off with a relaunch in 2013, initially with the 10 Year Old, but now the core range is all about the 12, 15, and 18 Year Old releases that came after.

Released relatively recently in 2019, Tamdhu 15 Year Old is, of course, matured entirely in oloroso sherry casks. Notes of honey and apple are found in the new make spirit, while it manages to also remain robust enough to stand up to an entire sherry maturation. 

Jess tastes Tamdhu 15 Year Old

Nose: You do get that classic sherried dried fruit with raisins and sultanas, but also quite a lot of tinned pineapple sweetness in there, and this stickiness – almost like sticky malt loaf.

Palate: It’s a lot drier and spicier initially than it seems on the nose. You’ve got very woody spices like cinnamon sticks in there, and little bit of black pepper peaking through.

Finish: On the finish it returns to being quite sweet, the spices are more like cinnamon sugar and notes of figs in there bringing this lovely sweetness.