Burnt Sugar

Tamdhu 10 Year

Tamdhu makes no bones about tapping into the Scottish ingenuity found prominently in the Enlightenment. Built in 1898 by a consortium of Scottish whisky traders, the distillery lays along the River Spey with the stated aim of producing the finest whisky possible. At least until it closed in 2010. With a resurgence of whisky in full swing, however, the site didn’t remain stagnant for long and was purchased in 2011 by Ian Macleod Distillers to be reborn in 2013 with the same Can-Dhu spirit (trust us, they make use of this wordplay too). Being so new, in a sense, the distillery only has three main offerings, with this 10 year being the flagship.

By Adam | January 22, 2017 | Speyside | No Comments |

Laphroaig Cairdeas 200th Anniversary Edition

Much like Ardbeg, Laphroaig celebrated its 200th anniversary in 2015, and offered many celebratory offerings (many of which we tasted here), including this No Aged Statement whisky they put out every year. The “Cairdeas” is tailor made to suit the situation, and the creative brain trust at Laphroaig have sought to offer the essence of what makes their distillery so renowned in this anniversary malt. Made using 100% floor malted barley and using the smallest, oldest stills at the distillery, then matured for around 12 years. This also marks a first for Scotchology, returning to a Scotch we explored in February 2014, one of our early selections. While we’ve reviewed Scotches from the same distillery, this is the first time we’ve revisited the same whisky, even if the purposefully different yearly releases do not make this completely comparative.

By Adam | March 10, 2016 | Islay | 1 Comment |

Amrut has a special place in our collective memory. The first time we tasted the standard offering before we’d even begun our collective exploration, the results were…memorable. And horrific. Fast forward two years of developing our palates and, while perhaps still not our first choice at the bar, we can better appreciate what the distillery is trying to do. The history of whisky in India is a proud and interesting one. Amrut started over 65 years ago; a large company, only a small percentage of its revenue is from whisky. While most Indian distilleries serve their domestic tastes, Amrut is focused primarily on foreign markets. Their single malt line has only been available for the past decade or so, and this heralded Fusion combines barley from India with barley from Scotland, which has been peat smoked.

By Adam | September 15, 2015 | Foreign | 1 Comment |