Tamdhu 15 Year Old

This review of Tamdhu 15 is from a sample kindly supplied by @RianC and is only my second experience of Tamdhu as I've also tried the 12. Which is decent. It was also @RianC s idea to compare this to the Glenturret 12 I recently purchased which is at a similar-ish price point to the Tamdhu 15.

Sample has sat for 15 minutes (year in the glass for every year in the cask)

Nose (neat)

Unmistakable sherry bomb nose. Dried fruits, figs, christmas cake, beeswax.

With water the nose opens up and you get a beautiful note of peaches that reminds me of a bottle of Hibiki 17 I once had.

Very enjoyable nose.

Palate

Arrival neat is slightly hot and surprisngly sour with tobacco. Needs a bit of water.

With a little water some of the heat from the arrival is tamed and a floral note emerges. It's still quite surprisingly sour and savoury. The tobacco note continues. There's some citrus fruits. But not actually a lot of dried fruit. There's also a slight musty note that makes me think of wet bandages. That shows up at one point then disappears (I wonder if this was matured in a dunnage warehouse?)

With a bit more water you get a bit more fruit. But it is more along the lines of orchard fruits. Peaches and apricots and it is sll underpinned by a savoury, sour note.

Finish

Is very long with tannins, leather and tobacco and a repeat of the floral note towards the end.

Verdict

This was not what I was expecting at all. Before I tried it I assumed it would be a Sherry Bomb but now having had it I that doesn't describe it at all. It reminded me quite a bit of some fairly 'not for beginners' challenging malts like Benromach, Hazelburn or Glen Garioch. I think it would be best described as a character malt that has been sherry cask matured.

One to sit quietly and take your time with.

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