Tamdhu is a Speyside distillery at Knockando in Moray, built in 1897 by blenders led by William Grant, a director of Highland Distillers.1,2,3 It has long made spirit for blends such as The Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark.3,4 Edrington closed it in 2010, and Ian Macleod Distillers bought it in 2011.1,3,4
An outspoken yet elegant old-style sherry whisky, rich in tobacco, sour berries, tea and dark cocoa, with oak spice that occasionally grows a little loud.
A rather classic sherry profile with prunes, raisins, toffee, milk chocolate and coffee, slightly restrained but a safe choice.
WF's Little Duos: today Tamdhu, OB vs IB
In 1899 Highland Distillers bought it from the Tamdhu Distillery Co., the firm that built it.2,3,5 From 1911 the distillery closed for two years.3
It was closed from 1927 until it reopened in 1947.2,4,5
In 1949 it began replacing its floor maltings with Saladin boxes, a French invention that turns the barley by machine, which greatly increased its malting capacity.1,2,3 It supplied all the malt for Glenrothes and the unpeated malt for Highland Park, and became the last site in Scotland to malt this way.1,2,3
The distillery's capacity tripled between 1972 and 1975.1,2,5 It went from two stills to four in 1972, then to six in 1975, when it was rebuilt.1,2,5
In 1999 Edrington bought Highland Distillers, and with it Tamdhu.3,6,7 The distillery closed in April 2010, and Tamdhu's own history puts this down to outside pressures.1
Every bottle in Peated with a vintage year.
Bottles in Peated distilled at Tamdhu, by release year.
| Year distilled | Bottles |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2018 | 1 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2022 | 1 |
| 2023 | 1 |
| 2024 | 2 |
| 2025 | 8 |
| 2026 | 10 |
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In June 2011 Ian Macleod Distillers bought the distillery and the Tamdhu Single Malt brand from Edrington, to support its blends Isle of Skye, Lang's and King Robert II.3,4,9 It reopened in January 2012, and has since fitted new washbacks and built new warehouses, 15 of them in six years.1,3,10 Tamdhu now matures its spirit only in sherry oak casks.1,3,10 In November 2014 Sandy McIntyre came from Diageo and took over as manager from Sandy Coutts, who retired after more than 40 years.10,11
Its water comes from a spring under the distillery.3,10 Whiskypedia lists the maltsters Crisp and Simpsons as its malt suppliers.3 Its malt is peated to 1-2ppm, parts per million, a measure of peat smoke in the malt.3 It has 9 wooden washbacks, the vessels where wort, sugary water from the mash, ferments into wash.3,10 Fermentation lasts 59 to 107 hours.3 It has 3 wash stills for the first distillation and 3 spirit stills for the second.4,12,13 The stills are onion-shaped and heated by a steam boiler.3 Its condensers, which turn the vapour back into spirit, are of the tube type.3 It can make 4 million litres of alcohol a year.3,12,13
