Whisky Extravaganza! From the sublime to the ridiculous and everything in between

Part 1: limited edition anniversary stuff

I already hinted at this series a few times in the recent past. This wee blogspace on the interweb turns 5 in November and to mark the occasion, I’m diving into the (seemingly ever growing) collection of samples to seek out those specimen of a somewhat ‘rare’, or ‘exclusive’ nature. Not that I’m THAT full of myself, or am trying to blow my own horn here, but rather to both embrace some of those high end, special occasion whiskies AND have a somewhat critical look at everything that tends to come with it. There are other considerations as well.  The most important one? Whisky is made for drinking, after all, and if I just leave these sitting in the cabinet, waiting for that ‘special occasion’ to open them up, chances are I’ll end up missing out on some possibly divine liquid altogether. I’ve just turned 45 – so roughly halfway through life. By no means an old man (although my body sometimes begs to differ) but definitely not a spring chicken anymore, either. So having a small blog that’s been running for 5  years seems as good a reason as any to select  a few of those  samples filled with ‘higher end’ stuff and see what’s what.

The past decade or so, it seems there was no end to things and the sky was indeed declared the limit when it came to whisky. Since the turning of the millennium,  there’s been dozens and dozens of new distilleries seeing the light of day in Scotland alone. English whisky was pretty much none existent until 15 years ago, while  Irish whisky in that same time has gone from not even a handful of distilleries and now they’re knocking onto 50 active distilleries with  over a dozen in various stages of planning and construction. The same applies to many other places all over the world. Whisky, it seems, is everywhere.

As such, that’s of course a good thing. Variety being the spice of life  and all. It all came to a culmination point during the covid pandemic, and despite there being an abundance of booze, there were, and still are, considerable less pleasant and even downright negative sides to this as well. For starters, there’s this things called bottle flippers. We all know what these are and I’m not going to waste much  time on them, other than repeating that I all wish them a nasty, itchy rash on their backs just out of arms’ reach.  

Apart from these cockroaches, there are things happening in the industry as well. The combination of high demand with high prices for resources and increasing costs of logistics, meant prices skyrocketed. Cask investment schemes (often cask investment scams) promising pots of gold at the end of the rainbow combined with what appears to be a ‘war for wood’ meant cask prices were driven into the stratosphere. Combine that with big players like Diageo and Pernod Ricard ‘re-evaluating’ their cask policies, almost overnight putting a stop on casks being made available to third parties (= bottlers and brokers) from certain distilleries and things got even more crazy, price wise. While some of those mechanics are undoubtedly in play, affecting prices, it’s also perfectly clear that it shows us capitalism at its worst. Yes, older stock is depleting from warehouses everywhere in Scotland, and this will have an effect on the price of your bottles, but there’s no denying that quite a few distilleries (by which I mean: their owners) are driven by nothing more that cold, hard greed, using the increased demand and rising costs as a very easy excuse to deliberately premiumise their products. The ‘leaving money on the table’ adage, if you will. It’s been discussed many times over, and I don’t want this to turn into yet another rant, even less so because I want this series to be about celebrating some absolutely wonderful, marvellous whiskies out there, but I simply cannot just rave about these whiskies, particularly the one I’m discussing today, without making these ‘notes on the side’.

Tamdhu 18 yo cask strength 125th  anniversary edition. 2022 release. 56.8% ABV, Oloroso seasoned hogsheads, 1000 bottles available, £195 on release. Sold out and now on secondary for anywhere between £300 to £800 (€950; $1100)

Premium brands of whisky are nothing new, of course. Macallan being the obvious example, but there’s also Dalmore, and, maybe to a lesser extent, Mortlach, Ardbeg and Highland Park. In recent years, we’ve seen a few more (often Diageo and PR) distilleries getting branded and priced towards those with a significantly higher disposable income, sometimes quite abruptly at that. Lagavulin, Talisker, Aberlour (particularly A’bunadh) and Longmorn spring to mind. And let’s not forget the stunt Brown Forman have pulled with Glendronach recently.  The same can be said for both of  Ian Macleod’s distilleries Glengoyne and Tamdhu. Coincidence or not, ever since they purchased Rosebank and started to rebuild it, official releases from both Tamdhu and Glengoyne have seen significant price hikes. Up to a point where I disconnected completely,  I regret to say. Where Glengoyne 18 used to be a very decent quality, fairly priced (€80-€90 here) single malt until a few years ago, it’s now roughly  double that. Same for their 21 yo – not even 5 years ago available for around €100, now it’s €200. Tamdhu 18 yo? That’ll be €170, please… The whole premiumisation seems very artificial – it’s not as if almost overnight their whisky has become twice as good, after all. If anything, it’s a slap in the face of engaged, sometimes devoted customers and enthusiasts to your brand. We understand things are getting more costly. But simply doubling your RRP just because you think it’ll fly or your marketing department has decided that the market will stand for that sort of thing, is downright poor and very, very disrespectful. As said, I think it’s a bloody shame, even more so because I love both of these distilleries! After all, last year I picked Tamdhu’s (now discontinued) 10 yo as the whisky that could well represent Speyside in an attempt to find a quintessential whisky for each of the 5 regions. I had a moan about their marketing decisions back then, and  18 months on, things haven’t exactly improved.

If their core range bottlings are pricy, best not to look at what their limited, small batch, cask strength stuff tends to retail for. Unless you’re self-indulging, it’s folly money, something you would only buy to really treat yourself. So imagine my gratitude when someone is willing to share some of that with me. In this case, a shout out is more than due to Seb Kracun!

Back in 2022, Tamdhu celebrated its 125th anniversary. Worthy of some small batch high end stuff indeed, this 18 year old cask strength (batch strength) was releases with a 1000 bottle outturn. Despite an already significant price, they sold like hot cakes. I can only hope most would have been opened, enjoyed and shared since. If the current price tag for this now seems a tad steep, you can still settle for the 125th Anniversary Dedication Society single cask, a 2003 vintage matured in European sherry casks, although you're still looking at £349 through their website.

Nose

Dark honey, polished wood and leather. Dried fruits (raisins and prunes), treacle with burned sugar, roasted nuts and charcoal even. A drop of water and everything intensifies, while also turning a wee bit sweeter as notes of golden honey emerge, with some spices in the form of  liquorice and cola cubes. Busy and bold!

Palate

A warm, deep arrival with notes of dark chocolate, coffee, and treacle. Demerara sugar, dried fruit and again that leather and wood polish. With the added water things become a bit less intense and lighter and also I’m picking up a gentle salinity.

Finish

Very long, very warming: dried fruits, treacle and oak.

Final thoughts

If you like your whisky bold, busy  and powerful (and you’ve got the cash to splash): this is definitely one that ticks all the boxes. it’s a powerhouse! Not a sherry bomb as such, but everything a sherry bomb has to offer and then some. Despite this being busy and very full flavoured, there’s balance and everything is just in check.  Relatively easy to drink neat, but with just a drop of water this turns from very good to absolutely excellent. I can fully understand why Tamdhu released this as a celebration whisky, and while I can’t get behind the price tag, I can only say that it’s a beast. A wonderful, glorious, beautiful beast.

And with that, I’ve kicked off this series. Probably I’ll endulge myself the next two months as I still have to cover a few closed distilleries, some unobtanium Japanese stuff, quite old Islay whisky, top tier World Whisky and a few others, all building up towards going out with a bang on the ‘nec plus ultra’ of whisky. Stay tuned!