Tamdhu 10 Years Old 2002 Single Minded (Douglas Laing)

From Douglas Laing comes this Tamdhu, a 10 year old release from 2002 and bottled at 41.5%. Tamdhu, built in 1897 on the banks of the Spey in Speyside, is famed for its sherry cask whisky. Water comes from the Tamdhu Spring, the distillery set on the banks of the Spey.

Distilled in copper onion stills on Tamdhu Spring water, for a rich Speyside spirit built to take sherry wood. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, the wood adding a light honeyed sweetness. Younger here, it keeps a lively fruit over a developing sherry depth. Years in oak round the spirit, the dried fruit and spice deepening with age. The Spey valley's cool air gives a slow, even maturation in the warehouses. Tamdhu was built in 1897 by a consortium of blenders led by William Grant. The arrival of the Strathspey railway in the 1860s made the distillery possible. For decades its malt fed blends such as the Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark. Mothballed in 2010, the distillery was revived by Ian Macleod and relaunched in 2013.

At 41.5% it is smooth and sherried. The American oak brings vanilla and a honeyed apple. The texture is rich and rounded, the fruit lifted by sherry. The finish runs rich, nutty and spiced. This is a sherry matured Speyside single malt.