Tamdhu Special Edition 15 Years Old 2006

A distillery bottling of Tamdhu, a 15 year old Speyside malt from 2006, drawn from cask 2165 and bottled at 56.7%. Just 336 bottles were filled. Tamdhu, built in 1897 on the banks of the Spey in Speyside, is famed for its sherry cask whisky. Tamdhu ran the last Saladin box maltings in Scotland, the boxes still standing on site.

Distilled in copper onion stills on Tamdhu Spring water, for a rich Speyside spirit built to take sherry wood. An Oloroso sherry cask wrapped the malt in dried fruit and a nutty depth. Mid age brings a deeper sherry and a riper dried fruit note. Years in oak round the spirit, the dried fruit and spice deepening with age. The River Spey runs past the distillery on its way to the Moray coast. Ian Macleod runs Tamdhu alongside Glengoyne and Rosebank. Water is drawn from the Tamdhu Spring on the Speyside site. The distillery was built on a spot once known for illicit distilling. A full, fruity spirit gives Tamdhu the weight to carry active sherry wood.

Undiluted at 56.7%, it is layered. The Oloroso brings fig, raisin and a gentle ginger. The texture is rich and rounded, the fruit lifted by sherry. The finish is deep, waxy and spiced. This is a rich, sherried Speyside single malt.