Tasting Notes: Tamdhu 10

In an unfortunate turn of events, The Edrington Group, owners of Macallan, Glen Rothes, Highland Park, and Tamdhu, mothballed the latter distillery.

Although there are no immediate plans to reopen the distillery, their stocks will continue to exist (and age) for a while to come, and grocery store shelves will likely carry Tamdhu products for the foreseeable future. Since Tamdhu presumably makes up a significant portion of Edrington’s Famous Grouse blend, my guess is that production will resume once the stocks dip too low to contribute to that brand. But for now, you can still find the 10 year old at places like Fairway for around $22. Yeah, that’s a pretty good price for a single malt.

Tamdhu 10 year old

Abv: 40%

Color: golden.

Legs: a few large, long, quick ones; not great.

Nose: highly floral (might be cloying to some), with a touch of sweet peat; intense heather and vanilla.

Palate: wax or lamp oil on a smooth but watery entry, then mostly malty, drying out into a simple kind of vanilla and sweet-spice flavour.

Finish: actually kind of a nice array of marzipan, cocoa, and other notes including a faint hint of smoke from a stove top; not too short at all, with a little lasting fizz.

Overall: I was surprised at how not terrible this was, but I wouldn’t write anything but a quick tweet home about it. I happen to like big flavours, and the floral nose is nothing if not big — but many a manly man might not be into that many flowers up his nostrils. The palate was certainly not great, and was watery as I feared from the abv; the dryness was also disappointing. Still, it had some flavour to it, and didn’t offend in any major way (other than being somewhat bland). Nothing rubbery or sulfury, though. Perhaps we can say that this, like a cheap blend but with more oomph and character, is a good Scotch for getting bombed. Party on, gents.