Apparently Duich is another name for Tamdhu Distillery, to be used by independent bottlers. I didn’t know that until recently, and it’s another one to be added to the dictionary, next to things like Burnside, Westport, and certainly others that I can’t recall right now.
Having said that, I’m not one to keep an eye on Tamdhu releases. I am not entirely sure why that is, but the distillery has never really seized my attention. Except a 6 year old bottling by The Ultimate / Van Wees from 13 years ago. That was a really good one.
Let’s see if this indie release from Dràm Mòr changes my outlook on the distillery.
Sniff:
A lot of sweetness in a combination of honey and dried fruits. Peaches and prunes mostly. Some raisins. A hint of nutty bitterness but it’s not overly specific.
Sip:
The palate brings a punch due to the alcohol, as a lot of dryness to accentuate it. There still is a lot of sweetness. Again, honey and dried fruits. It’s rather typical of high octane Tamdhu.
Swallow:
The finish brings more heat and makes me tear up a little bit. Fairly straight forward with sweetness, honey, fruits.
So, with this being a 1st fill PX cask, I expected it to be a lot more heavy on the sherry, but it’s not. That’s a good thing, for a cask to make itself known but not overpower a whisky completely. Much like the awesome Inchfad / Loch Lomond from a while ago, it seems Dràm Mòr knows their way around a sherry cask.
Then, on the flipside, the whisky does exactly what I expect from a Tamdhu, and that is that it is a tad on the simple side. It is a bit of a one-trick pony and if that happens to be your kind of trick, this whisky is really solid. It’s not entirely for me, though.
The quality of the whisky is an easy 86, maybe 87. But my personal approach doesn’t get it higher than an 84.
84/100