Tamdhu 15 Year

Aroma: Rich sherry-infused dark fruits, brown sugar, dark honey, aged oak, orange liqueur, strawberry jam, a baked apple tart with spices (cinnamon and allspice), and fresh raisin scones. As it airs, it develops a lighter, sweeter quality (milk chocolate, butterscotch, and caramel), and the aromas meld, with faint hints of peppermint and anise emerging. Highly satisfying. Palate: An excellent entry, perfectly balanced between sweet, earthy, deeply fruity, and oaky notes. Abundant Christmas cake and pudding flavors emerge. Butterscotch, chocolate, caramel, toffee, cherry and almond liqueurs, and a subtle hint of salmiak (impressive!). Significant oak is present in the background, but the tannins are exceptionally smooth, and the texture is rich, opulent, chewy, and chocolatey. Finish: Long. Dark fruit and chocolate fade away on a wave of sherry. Some lively spices linger in the aftertaste, leading to a dry conclusion. Following my previous tasting (a somewhat underwhelming Craggenmore 1999/2020 special edition), I decided to try a reliable favorite, and Tamdhu did not disappoint. The distillery's official tasting notes are accurate, and there's little I can add. Tasted from a 30ml sample [bottle has been ordered]. "Very Good": 87/100 (4.25 stars)

Is this Tamdhu 15 year just batch 3 CS at non-CS strength? Nose - Berries, earthy oaky wine funk, vanilla, a hint of spice (cinnamon or something else?), maybe some ginger, hints of dry milk chocolate. Taste - Definitely a sherry bomb, but with a good amount of oak character, perhaps too much. It becomes sweeter as it opens up, with more vanilla, some toffee, chocolate, and still more oak. Finish - Dry sherry, oak, and some chocolate. I tasted this some time ago alongside batch 3, and the sherry notes were shockingly similar. This one is a bit thinner (not cask strength) and has more oak. I don't feel the finish is longer or that the age made a significant difference. Part of me feels those cask strengths contain rather old whisky or at least a good amount of older whisky, given how similar they are. It's a really good whisky, but it's a bit bitter/oaky for only 15 years and not as creamy as the cask strength versions. That said, it's still very good, and I would strongly consider buying more if I couldn't find the cask strength options.

My second experience with this brand confirmed my impression of the distillery: it's good... really good. Fully matured in Spanish Oloroso sherry casks, this 15-year-old is a limited edition (labeled as limited reserve) and could rival Glendronach 15, which is high praise. Bottled at 46% ABV with a tawny color. The nose is beautiful, offering an incredibly clean and precise crème brûlée note, toffee, and coffee. Every aroma seems toasted, which is amazing. It has fancy caramel, dates, and a slight cinnamon. A second taste reveals dulce de leche and more toffee, plus orange marmalade. Lovely. The palate is very enjoyable, with notes of milk powder, orange, brown sugar, hard dulce de leche, and is very sugary. Apricots and toffee are also present. Sweet and great. The aftertaste is also fantastic, providing a whole new layer of flavors: oak spice, leather, and dulce de leche ice cream. Overall, the moment you taste it, you recognize how solid this whisky is. It's a fancy yet complex and sweet dram, very well crafted. My score is 93 out of 100, and I definitely recommend it. Good job.

Nose: Fresh, very malty, a straightforward aroma lacking complexity. This isn't necessarily a negative. Palate: Similarly straightforward: malt, caramel, toffee, pleasantly sweet. A hint of amaretto di saronno is present. Finish: Medium-short, clean. A simple, highly drinkable, and enjoyable whisky. Rating 4.25

An elegant Single Malt Scotch from Tamdhu Whisky Distillery in Speyside, Scotland. It spent at least 15 years maturing in a mix of European and American oak sherry casks before being bottled at 46% ABV. The initial aroma presents notes of grain, wood, tree sap, and dried fruits, alongside nuts, herbs, and spices. The rich and spicy middle develops notes of barley, grilled oranges and pineapples, banana bread, burnt sugar, and fennel. It concludes with a long and warm finish featuring notes of toasted oak and malt, vanilla, citrus zest, apple, apricot, fig, raisins, cinnamon, clove, cedar, supple leather, and butter toffee.

This whisky is crafted very well, but it doesn't excite me greatly. I wanted to appreciate it more, yet there's genuinely nothing to fault. It seems like a combination of bourbon and sherry, and it doesn't deliver the intense flavor from either cask that I was anticipating. It would serve as an excellent introductory whisky for sherry. Aroma: Vanilla, butterscotch, ethanol, oak, citrus. Palate: Vanilla, toffee, orange, raisins, oak, pepper, a hint of sulfur. Finish: Shorter than I expected, with notes of slightly bitter chocolate and coffee. Mouthfeel: Creamy and approachable.