Tamdhu 2015 3W (3006 Whisky (3W))

Bottled by 3006 Whisky (3W), this Tamdhu, a 7 year old from 2015, drawn from cask 96 and bottled at 62%. 119 bottles in all. Tamdhu was opened in 1897 in Knockando, in the heart of Speyside; it once ran the last Saladin box maltings in Scotland. It was built by a consortium of blenders led by William Grant and designed by Charles Doig; the name is Gaelic for little dark hill.

The spirit was run through the distillery's onion shaped stills, and laid down in Oloroso casks for its sherried depth. An Oloroso sherry cask wrapped the malt in dried fruit and a nutty depth. At a youthful age the fruit is vivid and the sherry clear. Sherry seasoned oak is central to the house style, lending dried fruit and a nutty depth. 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 cask strength 62% it is rich and full. The Palo Cortado adds nuts, dried fruit and a dry, savoury depth. The texture is rich and rounded, the fruit lifted by sherry. A warming, sherried finish lingers. This is the sherried Speyside malt of Tamdhu.