Tamdhu distillery is a
single malt Scotch
Single malt Scotch refers to single malt whisky made in Scotland. To qualify for this category, a whisky must have been distilled at a single distillery using a pot still distillation process and made from a mash of malted barley. Therefore, a s ...
Speyside whisky
distillery
Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...
, located in the village of
Knockando
Knockando distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery, located in Knockando, Moray, in the Strathspey whisky-producing area of Scotland.
Knockando Distillery was built by John Tytler Thomson in 1898, and is named after the village in ...
in
Banffshire
Banffshire ; sco, Coontie o Banffshire; gd, Siorrachd Bhanbh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. It borders the Mora ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
. Tamdhu comes from Gaelic for "little dark hill".
The distillery was founded in 1896 by a group of assemblers, wishing to engage in the production of their own whisky. The first malt whisky was distilled and casked in 1897. It quickly passed on into the hands of
Highland Distillers. The history of the distillery was fairly quiet, without changing owners, but still marked by a long dormancy between 1927 and 1947.
Its production capacity was tripled between 1972 and 1975. The distillery has now 3 wash stills and 3 spirit stills. Its annual production of pure alcohol is 4 million gallons.
Unlike its neighbours, the Tamdhu distillery has no roof-shaped pagoda above its malt furnaces. This is one of the last distilleries to malt all of its barley on the spot by a
mechanical saladin.
It was announced that as of April 2010, the Tamdhu Distillery, belonging to the
Highland Distillers subsidiary of the
Edrington Group, was being closed and the plant shuttered. It was then sold to Ian MacLeod Distillers in June 2011, who recommenced production of single malt in May 2013.
The Tamdhu whisky is almost completely used for the production of blended whiskies, such as
The Famous Grouse,
J & B
Justerini & Brooks is a fine wine and spirits merchant founded in St. James's in 1749, originally to provide wine and spirits to the aristocratic households of London. The firm has been a supplier to every British monarch since the coronation of ...
and
Cutty Sark
''Cutty Sark'' is a British clipper ship. Built on the River Leven, Dumbarton, Scotland in 1869 for the Jock Willis Shipping Line, she was one of the last tea clippers to be built and one of the fastest, coming at the end of a long period o ...
. Under current owners, Ian MacLeod, Tamdhu's bottlings include a 10 year-old, 100% sherry-matured standard bottling and a non-age-statement (NAS) 100% sherry matured "Batch Strength". The "Batch Strength" is in its second edition as of early 2017. Ian MacLeod initially released a "Limited Edition" bottling of 1000 bottles to commemorate the rebirth of the distillery. These were aged in first-fill sherry casks. Previous owners, Highland Distillers, bottlings of Tamdhu included a 10-year-old, 18-year-old and a no-age-statement bottling. Other bottlings are sold by
independent bottlers.
In 2017 Ian MacLeod released Tamdhu 50. It is a 50 year old bottling from a first-fill European oak sherry butt (cask 4678). It was distilled on 2 November 1963 and bottled March 2017. It had an out-turn of 100 bottles.
Current Bottlings
* Tamdhu 12 Years Old 43% : Ian MacLeod
* Tamdhu Batch Strength No. 001 58.8% : Ian MacLeod
* Tamdhu Batch Strength No. 002 58.5% : Ian MacLeod
* Tamdhu Limited Edition 10 Years Old 46% : Ian MacLeod
* Tamdhu Limited Edition 50 Years Old 55.6% : Ian MacLeod
* Independent Bottlings from Douglas Laing, Gordon & MacPhail, Duncan Taylor, Hunter Laing, Mackillop's Choice and others.
Previous Bottlings
* Tamdhu 10 Years Old 40% : Ian MacLeod
* Tamdhu 18 Years Old 43% : Highland Distillers
* Tamdhu 10 Years Old 40% : Highland Distillers
* Tamdhu No Age Statement 40% : Highland Distillers
*
Gordon & MacPhail : Tamdhu 8 years Macphail's Collection 40%
* Dewar Rattray: Tamdhu 1990 Cask Strength 62.9%
* Signatory Vintage : Tamdhu 1994 Collection Cask Strength 61%.
See also
* Ian MacLeod Distillers, current owners
*
Highland Distillers, previous owners
*
Edrington Group and
William Grant & Sons
William Grant & Sons Ltd is an independent, family-owned Scottish company that distills Scotch whisky and other selected categories of spirits. It was established in 1887 by William Grant, and is run by Grant's descendants as of 2018. It is the ...
, owners of Highland Distillers
*
Scotch whisky
Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland.
All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial dist ...
*
List of whisky brands
This is a list of whisky brands arranged by country of origin and style. Whisky (or whiskey) is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted ...
Notes
References
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External links
{{coord, 57, 27, 32.5, N, 03, 21, 13.0, W, region:GB-MRY_type:landmark, display=title
Distilleries in Scotland
Tamdhu