Tamdhu 10 Year Old Cream Label bottled 1980s

This is an older bottling of a 10 Year Old Tamdhu, released in the 1980s for the Italian Cinzano. I put it head to head with the current version of the same whisky, recently revived by the current owner Ian McLeod.

The nose is quite special. It is sweet, malty, with clear sherry influence, but it also shows a weird egde as if from a swimming pool. That probably sounds bad, but it does work in a very strange way. A sour touch, but not disturbing. Nice hint of roasted almonds and a leaf of mint. It does show a bit OBE, as if it was poured from a can.

Ouch, on the palate, the OBE is omnipresent. Rubber and metal. Pity. Once you get past that, you first get something sweet, then something a bit salty. Sweet from the yellow fruit (hardly recognizable apart from some oranges), salt as in seawater. Becomes quite dry and green. Think garden herbs. Sage, rosemary and maybe even some parsley. Green tea? Loads of oak towards the end.

The finish is long and dry on spices and cold coffee.

I had expected a lot more from this, but apparantely my sample came from a bottle that has been open too long. Damn.

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