Tamdhu 15yo
Official bottling | 46% ABV
Score: 5/10
Average. In a Good Way
TL;DR
Everything you’d expect, except a little thin on texture
Settling the nerves
A conversation with a few friends about our travelling habits revealed something to my friends that I’ve known all my life, probably due to my upbringing: I’m an anxious traveller.
Of course I was referring to air travel, but in truth, whenever I have to catch a scheduled mode of commute, I tend to be overly anxious about it, and that applies to the commute from Glasgow city centre to Deanston Distillery.
At that time, I decided that I had to be at least 15 minutes early to the bus station, which meant I had to board a train scheduled that would allow me to do that, in order to board that train I had to be early as well and, well, one thing led to another and I was a good forty-five minutes early to the bus station; boarding a bus that would arrive at the distillery an hour before my tasting would start. In fact, it didn’t start from the train, it started with my alarm in the morning, timing my breakfast, so that I would have plenty of time to navigate my way from my accommodation to the train station.
That’s who I am. Some might call me a firm believer in Murphy’s Law, others might just refer to me as an anxious traveller.
Why am I telling you this? Because I am at the Hong Kong International Airport, with hours to burn; five to be exact. A few things that had led me to arrive at the airport before sunset for a flight that takes off within an hour of midnight.
It started two days ago, when I was reminded to check in online; usually that’s a pretty routine procedure, a few clicks on my phone and I’d get on with my day. But this time, it didn’t work so smoothly. I recently renewed my passport, so I had to update the details, and the app kept saying my details were incorrectly entered. After double and triple checking that everything was in order, I decided to call the airline to see if they could help. The staff on the other end of the line were indeed helpful, they checked my flight and passport details for me and confirmed that there should be no problem. Simply come earlier to the airport on departure day, and we’ll get things sorted out.
“Come earlier”... that usually wouldn’t be much of a problem. When I’m flying, I dedicate the day as my flight day. The purpose of the day is to prepare for my flight. I don’t have anything else planned, packing would be done the night before with my suitcases parked next to the front door. I would set an alarm early to give me ample time to… you know… prepare, prepare to leave whenever the time to leave is, and then I might leave half an hour early, or an hour and a half, whatever suits my mood.
This time though, my flight day was pre-disrupted: I had to take my mother-in-law to a medical check-up in the morning, which really shouldn’t be a problem - the appointment was at 9:30am, even with the expected delay at public hospitals, I should be home by not much later than noon, leaving me with eleven hours before my plane would leave and for a normal person that’s plenty of time. But as you already know, I’m not normal. My flight day needs to be left alone. Well, I didn’t have a choice this time, I’d have to deal with my anxiety.
Well, as expected, I got home a few minutes past noon, and now I could really get my belated flight day started. But this is usually when flight days get drawn out; when I wake up too early for a flight that’s as close to “tomorrow” as it can be. Anxiety kicked in, I loaded up my packing checklist (yes, another spreadsheet) and went through it item by item. If I don’t remember packing it, I physically went through my suitcase to find the item packed, defeating the whole point of the checklist really, but I just had to.
By the time I finally made peace with myself, I finished my cup of coffee, and even had a dram of whisky. I decided I was going to stop suffocating myself with anxiety… by heading to the airport, at 4:30 in the afternoon.
In my defence, I was told to get there earlier. Originally, I planned to arrive around 3 hours before take-off. Any passport issues that couldn’t be resolved with that much time probably meant I wouldn’t be able to fly anyway. But I arrived more than five hours early, and that check in issue I mentioned? Fixed in a flash.
I went through security and did my usual airport stuff, mainly walking through restaurants to see if I wanted anything - I did grab a pasta - and then go through the duty-free sections. In all honesty, duty-free at airports, especially my local airport, doesn’t hold my attention. I did pick up that Bruichladdich locally, but that’s a one in a million occurrence. This time around I didn’t find anything interesting, the same bottles stared at me, and the same bottles were ignored, so why don’t I share the dram I had while I was trying to keep myself sane before I decided to leave for the airport?
Review
Tamdhu 15yo, Official bottling, matured in ‘sherry oak casks, 46% ABV
£70 paid & wide availability
In a previous review, I outlined a rule for myself where I decided to only buy whisky from distilleries that I’ve never owned before - until after Glasgow Whisky Festival. That time it was an independent Glendullan; this time it’s an official Tamdhu. Rules are there to be broken. Since then I’ve bought two whiskies from Springbank and one from Glen Scotia, but that’s besides the point.
To give a bit of background on my collection; the old Glendronach 15 had always been a permashelf item, I find it a very good gateway into sherried whiskies for beginners who are looking to spend a bit more. Retailing at around £70, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for my market. But since the rule dictates that I can’t buy another Glendronach before November, I had to look for an alternative.
Of eligible distilleries that had a solid core range of mid-teens sherried whisky, I didn’t have many choices. In fact I think my only other choices were Dalmore and Edradour, the former would have been an easy pass, I could have picked Edradour, but I’ve been treated to a drop of Tamdhu 15 in the past and I did remember liking it, so I decided to pull the trigger.
Score: 5/10
Average. In a Good Way
TL;DR
Everything you’d expect, except a little thin on texture
Nose
Immediately on the nose a big note of prunes, along with raisins, dried apricot, and a hint of cherry cola, sweet but not overly sweet. Slightly metallic when first poured, but that slowly fades away as the whisky sits in the glass; tiny hint of sulphur as well.
Palate
The arrival is quite fizzy, but the mouthfeel is quite thin for a 46% whisky. The sweetness persists but is counterbalanced by a pleasant bitterness, fruit jams, raisins, cherries, dark chocolate, as well as a hint of orange zest; the finish is disappointingly short though - everything just vanished in a flash.
The Dregs
This whisky is everything you might expect from an unpeated sherried whisky, at the same time it’s not offering much more. No question that it is pleasant, but from memory I definitely prefer the Glendronach 15 over this.
One of the most disappointing things about this whisky is the lack of texture from the mouthfeel, which I then suspected is due to chill filtration, after all, being bottled at 46% doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not chill filtered. Still, a quick look on Tamdhu’s official website confirms that this whisky is natural. Maybe it is mentioned on the box, but that’s been disposed by the time I’m writing this. Is it really that hard to put it on the label? Who am I to say.
I did expect a bit more from this whisky, especially having tasted a sample of it before, but it still does a job in my collection, being the quintessential mid-teens sherry cask whisky.
Come November when I return from Scotland after the Glasgow Whisky Festival I’ll evaluate the state of my collection, and when the opportunity arises, I might replace the old Glendronach 15 if it’s still available at retail. If that materialises, this Tamdhu 15 will surely be sidelined.
Score: 5/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. MMc
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