Tamdhu 17 Adelphi 1993 (Toronto Whisky Society Review Set #1)

As part of the Toronto Whisky Society, we had a small getogether and drank our fucking faces off.

Like gentlemen and ladies and all that shit, you know? All hosted by one of our members, /u/devoz and his amazing wife.

Each of us brought a bottle to drink. And that was too many. So I understand if you take my reviews with a grain of salt. Or two.

We started, as we all should start, with a questionable whisky of lower proof and reviews that were… iffy.

Thanks to /u/Boyd86 for bringing Tamdhu 17 Adelphi 1993.

I had a Tamdhu awhile ago. And due to my amount of drink and bravado, I decided to tell everyone that IB Tamdhus will “rip their fucking faces off”.

What do we learn kids? Well the last one I had was made by Signatory, as part of their ballsy Cask Strength collection, was first fill ex-sherry cask. This one? From what I can tell, refill sherry cask, who knows the size, and an older dram by 9 more years.

So… yeah. Probably shouldn’t shoot my mouth off. Sorry guys.

Beyond that last time, I don’t really know much about Tamdhu. At all. But I was drunk. So I spoke out my ass.

None the less, Tamdhu was being closed in 2010 before being sold and then being reopened. It hasn’t made that big of a splash, save for some nice IBs that have come out.

Let’s see if we can add this one to that list, shall we?

Price: N/A at the LCBO

Region: Speyside

Cask No: 1043

Distilled: 1993

Bottling Date: 2012

Outrun: 580

Abv: 58.8%

Colour: 5Y 8/10

Nose: Sulphur, stawberry, basil, funk/dead flowers

I’ve read of quite a few Tamdhu being in sherry casks. I can’t say for certain if this one was, because Adelphi don’t play that way.

That said, the nose is screaming Sherry more than the drunks down on Queen street. And that’s just because they love her pole dancing.

Earth, sweet, and fruit. Lots of it.

Taste: Anise, strawberry, brine, raisin, currant, grape

Nice amount of spice and fruit. There’s an odd salty flavour, kinda like the end of Sherry’s act if you’re in the front row.

At least we know why the drunks love her.

I’m doubling down and saying this is a sherried malt, through and through. Might have been too sherried, actually, though some of the malt aspects shine through.

Finish: Lots of sulphur, cayenne, ginger, honey, raisin

I’m not one to complain about sulphur. It’s a fact of whisky and personally, as /u/devoz recently put it, a good amount of sulphur can add some interesting dimensions to a whisky.

Granted he may have been inebriated when he said that and it wasn’t as classy. Like Sherry.

Here though, it’s quite evident. The sherry aspect takes over the entire finish.

Conclusion: It’s a nice dram, but there’s too much sherry influence. Nice and strong, it misses out on the ballsier aspects of the other Tamdhu. I think pulling this earlier would have been beneficial.

It’s unbalanced but nice to drink. It’s not totally a Kavalan Solist Sherry whisky, in which it only tastes of sherry, but it certainly was on it’s way there.

76/100

Scotch review #513, Speyside review #153, Whisky Network review #832