Review: The MacPhail's Collection Tamdhu 8 year old Single Malt Scotch

In the past, the Tamdhu Distillery, in the town of Knockando, always produced what I found to be a gentle and pleasing introduction to single malt scotch.  A great starting point and for that matter, always enjoyable to return to every once in a while.

The house style if you will is invariably smooth and easy-going.  No over powering flavors and usually a rounded, soft mouth feel.   Unfortunately, this old Speyside distillery (founded in 1897) was closed by its owner, The Edrington Group, in April 2010.  Reasons are invariably vague.  The Edrington spokespeople blamed the weak economy at the time and the need to "rebalance its distillation capacity."  For further Orwellian double talk akin to a White House press secretary, more Edrington quotes are available in a news article on the closure of Tamdhu by clicking here.  The bottom line I figure is its all about saving dollars and cents (and sacking 30 hard working people).

When the Tamdhu distillery was in operation, its output was an ingredient whisky for a number of unremarkable entry level scotch blends like: Famous Grouse, J & B Rare and Cutty Sark.  The distillery cranked out a vast sea of 4 million gallons a year.  The majority went for blending, but the distillery did bottle some single malt, usually with no age statement, but later there was a ten year old.  Tamdhu was never a darling of the whisky critics.  Lacked the magic they required in their drams (or maybe their pocket books . . .).  But, for the average Joe, Sue and myself, it hit all the right notes.  Smooth, pleasing and friendly.

Today, you can probably find Tamdhu single malt scotch still on shelves, but it won't likely be distillery bottlings.   There are still some bottles kicking around (because so much was produced), but more than likely what is on the liquor store shelf comes from an independent bottler like Gordon & MacPhail.

Independent bottlers buy a 'new-make spirit' (unaged whisky) produced by a Scottish distillery and make decisions about how to age it.  Decisions concerning what casks (American or European Oak), first-fill sherry or ex-bourbon casks, second-fill, etc and of course aging.  "Wood management" is, in my opinion, just as important, and sometimes more important than the quality of the new-make whisky.  A good independent bottler like Gordon & MacPhail can take the unremarkable new-make whisky of a distillery like Tamdhu and make it into something special if they exercise good wood management.

Nose (undiluted)
Surprisingly soft mist of peat, rich sherry, lots of spices and vanilla.  Quite impressive for the price of this malt.

Palate (undiluted)
Sherry, some cranberry and raspberry.  Lots of other rich red fruits too.

Finish (undiluted)
Nice sherry again, red licorice and black coffee on the tail end.

General Impressions
I am really impressed with this single malt.  I mean really impressed.  For a malt that is made up of whiskies as young as eight years, it tastes like the majority of the spirit is much older.  Then again the nature of the new make whisky may mature much earlier (ie. 8-10yrs) than others.  In any case, this bottle is proof again that age statements do not necessarily denote quality.

Gordon & MacPhail have done an excellent job of wood management with the Tamdhu new-make whisky they received at least 8 years ago.  Excellent quality refill sherry casks were used to age the spirit.  I know this because I can taste it.  The refill sherry casks may have not necessarily been 1st refill, but rather 2nd or some combination of the two.  Whatever the case is, the master blender did a terrific job given the price of a bottle of this release.

Criticisms?  At this particular price point, not really.  Gordon & MacPhail deliver an easy drinking single malt with pleasant sherry and red fruit flavors that slightly dry on the finish.  Maybe not overly complex, but this is not meant to be a show stopper or one to drink while you ponder the meaning of life, you ol' soldier of the mind.  Hell no!  This is a malt for when you need to chill out in the backyard and watch the sunset.  This scotch will also work well when you and a buddy debate NFL stats and whether or not the Patriots will make it to the Super Bowl. 

Elizabeth Taylor (1932 -2011) in "A Place in the Sun"

I have always felt that Tamdhu never really had a place in the sun to borrow the title of the magnificent film starring the actress Elizabeth Taylor who sadly died today.


Jason Debly

Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2011. All rights reserved.  The writer owns no copyright to the picture of Elizabeth Taylor as she appeared in the 1951 film, A Place in the Sun.  The film and still frames are the copyright of Paramount Pictures.  The picture from the film is posted for the purposes of nostalgia, education and entertainment.

Highland Park 25 years, Macallan 12 years, Tamdhu and Friends

This past Friday afternoon, I dropped by George’s office around 4:30pm. George, you will recall, is the fiftyish, personal injury lawyer, who has bottles upon bottles of unopened scotch given by clients as gifts. Since January, I have been endeavoring to drop by periodically on Fridays for impromptu scotch tastings. Just doing my part to make this place a better world.

“Brent will be dropping by,” George said.

I was ok with that. I had never met Brent, but he, like George, was another local personal injury lawyer, whose pulse quickened at the sound of an ambulance whine beyond the pane glass windows.

While we waited, not wanting to be idle, as that would be playing into the devil’s hands, George set a bottle of Macallan 12 years old and a previously opened Bowmore 10 years on the table.

I have never been a huge Macallan 12 years fan. Why? I just found the flavor profile to be just one flavor: sherry! It’s not poor quality, nor does it taste cheap, but rather one-dimensional and that dimension being: sherry! Nevertheless, none of these closely held opinions prevented me from having a dram while we waited for Brent. The nose was spicy vanilla. The palate was sherried in a high quality fashion. A little vanilla tucked in there I suppose but again not a lot else. George, on the other hand, enjoyed it immensely.

We heard the office door open from down the hall. George beckoned Brent to come on down much like Bob Barker. Brent appeared in the doorway with a litigation briefcase (one of those brief cases that looks like it could hold an accordion or something an encyclopedia salesman would be armed with). Clad in a navy blazer, button down shirt, rep tie, salt and pepper beard, studious glasses and a grin, he surveyed the boardroom table, the opened Macallan and the two tumblers.

George has many great qualities, but unfortunately his sense of thrift can interfere with a proper scotch tasting. The office tumblers are dark tinted blue glass that he picked up at the “Dollar Store.” I think they are phony “Blue Mountain” glasses. The authentic one’s aren’t suitable for drinking scotch let alone their counterfeit cousins.

“If we are going to drink scotch I thought we would have proper drinking glasses,” Brent declared as he reached into the cavernous briefcase and produced three crystal tumblers. We had not been introduced and I already liked the guy.

The next item he withdrew from the briefcase was a bottle of Highland Park 25 years, a bottle of water and a dark chocolate bar. Now, I knew for sure this guy was ok.

Brent poured some Highland Park 25 year old single malt, a scotch that I have only tried at Highland Park organized tastings. He insisted that we add a little water to open it up a bit.

Highland Park 25 yrs

Nose (diluted)
Damp leaves and spices.

Palate (diluted)
Medium to heavy bodied, chewy toffee, spice, wood smoke and marzipan.

Finish (diluted)
Long! Woodsmoke and malty. It’s a dream.

I really, really, really liked this single malt. So much so that I knew I would buy be buying a bottle in spite of its high price. George and Brent were in agreement.

We also tried the Highland Park with some dark chocolate that was 90% cocoa. It worked oh so well!

Highland Park 25 has a high alcohol content of I believe 47%. Accordingly, I expected a bit of a bite or to be taken aback by its strength. Not the case here at all. If you visit the website for Highland Park they have a video tasting and the taster, makes reference to it initially overpowering the palate and that it is not for the novice drinker. I disagree. This is so beautifully smooth with many nuances and subtleties that even a newbie can appreciate it.

In fact, we were able to test it on a newbie, namely Mike, the custodian who happened by. He preferred it neat and was enthusiastic about it too.  A more recent tasting note for Highland Park 25 is available by clicking here.

Brent also had another bottle for us to try. A bottle of Tamdhu. It did not have an age statement on it.

Tamdhu

Nose (diluted)
Fresh cut grass, peat.

Palate (diluted)
Light bodied, sweet, key lime pie, rosemary.

Finish (diluted)
Short, a little watery (but in a good, cleansing way).

Brent explained that he picked up several bottles of this Tamdhu because it was great value for money and therefore functioned as a good daily drinker. We agreed.  I would definitely buy the Tamdhu as a casual drinking dram. 

I should also point out that the Macallan 12 years is by no means a poor single malt or flawed.  Brent and George really like it.  In the United States, it is enormously popular, but for me I would opt for something else.  Bottom line:  Everyone should try Macallan 12 years and judge for themselves.

In any event, that’s all for now.

Cheers!


Jason Debly

Copyright © Jason Debly, 2009-2011. All rights reserved.