A little trio of independent Tamdhus


November 13, 2026

A little trio of independent Tamdhus

There’s a good deal more to Tamdhu than the official bottlings. Mind you, that goes for practically every distillery. Generally, not meaning with Tamdhu, it’s rather the indies that tend to stay closest to the distillate, while the owners now play the wood-first card. We’ve never quite understood why.

Tamdhu-Glenlivet 12 yo 2013/2026 (46%, Cadenhead, Original Collection, refill oloroso hogshead)

Colour: gold. Nose: porridge, walnut bread. That’s pretty much all, folks. Mouth: much more expressive on the palate, mainly bitter orange and, once again, walnuts. Pepper. Finish: much the same. Pepper. Comments: hard to get much simpler than this. And it’s good.
SGP:361 - 82 points.

Tamdhu 10 y (57.8%, The Falkland Collection, cask #13, 228 bottles, 2026)

Hurray, a brand-new independent bottler! Going by the name, we’d guess they aren’t Argentinian (oh, very clever, S.!). Colour: deep gold. Nose: splendid, very malty, with a ton of roasted cashews and some lovely walnut-and-orange wine. So far, perfect. With water: lots of little fruit sweets join in. Mouth (neat): very, very good, still very malty, with tobacco, orange zest, a touch of ginger, a little leather, bay leaf and the usual walnuts. With water: fir and honey pastilles, fern, some quite bitter walnuts, a touch of tobacco and another of mustard. Finish: long, with rather sumptuous bitterness. You do have to like bitter flavours as much as I do, though. And retsina. Comments: by Zeus and Athena, that’s a fine bit of work for a first bottling.
SGP:461 - 88 points.

Tamdhu 19 yo (53%, Decadent Drams, refill sherry hogshead, 246 bottles, 2026)

I think the care DD puts into its labels is rather wonderful. Though honestly, this one does look a bit Heineken, doesn’t it? OK, OK, it doesn’t. Colour: deep gold. Nose: remarkably close to the ten-year-old from our Argentinian friends (S., come on). Malt, walnuts, sandalwood, cedarwood… With water: a pint of bitter and some walnut wine. Mouth (neat): roasted walnuts running wild. There you go. With water: sumptuous bitter notes, artichoke, aubergine, bitter orange, gentian, Jägermeister, Underberg, Unicum, whatever takes your fancy if you’re in our gang… Finish: fairly long, easing up a little. Fir liqueur from the Vosges (some local stuff, excuse me). Comments: I hate to say it might not be for everyone on account of those splendid bitter notes, and I mean that quite kindly. So many people are terribly sensitive to bitterness! Bless them…
SGP:361 - 88 points.

Well, well, yet anothe session that knocked our preconceptions to bits…

Check the index of all Tamdhu we've tasted