Tamdhu 20 Years Old 1989 Cask #DL 5094 (Douglas Laing)

Single malt Tamdhu, an independent Douglas Laing bottling, a 20 year old Speyside malt from 1989, drawn from cask DL 5094 and bottled at 56.1%. A release of 221 bottles. Tamdhu was built in 1897 at Knockando on the River Spey, and it long fed blends before its single malt revival. The old Knockando railway station serves as the distillery's visitor centre.

It was worked through onion stills for a rich Speyside spirit, then filled into sherry seasoned casks, the heart of the Tamdhu style. A sherry butt held it, the wood lending raisin and walnut. Around the mid teens the malt gains a fuller dried fruit over the orchard fruit. Dunnage and racked warehousing on site gives a slow maturation by the Spey. 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. Sherry casks, both Spanish and American oak, define the modern Tamdhu.

At 56.1%, undiluted, it is deep and sherried. The Oloroso brings fig, date and a gingered oak. It is full and deep, the sherried spirit shining through. The close is warm, dried fruit over soft oak. This is the sherry cask malt of Knockando.