Scotland, Speyside: Single malt whisky through the producing distilleries: history, making, production and tasting notes

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Tamnavulin

Description of the whisky

The distillery

Tamnavulin distillerie
Tamnavulin Distillery
Ballindaloch
Banffshire
AB37 9JA
+44 1807 590 285
Owner: Whyte & Mackay Ltd
Creation date1966

Tamnavulin is the only distillery to be situated on the river Livet, even if the latter has given its name to lots of distilleries in that production area.
Recently created, Tamnavulin has produced its own malt with a "Saladin box" until its mothballing in 1996.
The buildings have partially been used for wool carding.
It has been created in 1966 by Invergordon and acquired later by Whyte and Mackay.
Since 1996 the distillery is mothballed.
Tamnavulin is part of many blends, amongst others, the Mackinlay blends
The distillery resumed production in 2007 after the acquisition of Whyte and MacKay by the Indian United Breweries Group

The whisky

A propos des notes de dégustation Your own tasting notes

List of the bottles

Description of the distillery

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 Tamnavulin: independent bottlings
 

Tamnavulin
Provenance
10 years old
Autumn distillation

Age
 10 years
Alcohol percentage
 46%
Bottler
 Douglas Laing
=25 euros< 25 euros
 
The nose is first rather light, with cut grass hints, with some smoke notes on the background.
The body is light and oily and reveals some malt in the palate, with dry fruit and spice hints.
The impression in the mouth is confirmed by a lingering finish.
Hints of cut grass remind a Lowland whisky. This impression of cut grass is confirmed in the palate, and is rather fresh and very pleasant. Besides the cut grass, some hints of spice and menthol are present as well. A lingering and pleasant finish, and the whole makes a bottle I really recommend.  
18/20
The second tasting confirmed the first one. A great freshness and a rather complex whisky.
18/20
Again, the nose misleaded me, as I was quite sure this was a Lowlands whisky, sith its fresh cut grass and pear smells. The mouth is somewhere between pear and coffee.... Nice fruity hints, with touches of chocalate and some bitterness. Some discrete spices as well.
The finish is pleasantly lingering and rather warm, and the pleasure of the mouth is nicely prolonged for a while.
18/20
The nose is clearly marked by the freshness of cut grass mixed with smoothness of pleasantly perfumed flowers. Hints of hay and marshmallow as well and last but not least, a very nice complexity.
In the palate, quite a fruity taste (ripe pear) and some very discrete touches of walnut. Sweetness is clearly dominating, and the nice complexity promised by the nose has disappeared.
The finish is smooth also and relatively long, but never spectacular.
17/20
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Tamnavulin
Master of Malt
15 years
Age
 15 years
Taux d'alcool
 40%
Embouteilleur
 Master of Malt
=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
Tamnavulin 15 ans Master of malt
The first nose seems to be marked by wax and then by cough pills smells, fresh paint. Quite an amazing and complex nose.
In the palate, the same trends seem to persist. But wax and paint become praline and chocolate. The complexity of the nose has disappeared. This whisky is more amazing than pleasant. The relatively low alcohol percentage does not hinder. No watery impession like often with 40% diluted bottlings.
Finish is long and chocolate notes persist .
17/20
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Tamnavulin
Single Malts of Scotland
Anniversary selection
40 years old

Age
 40 ans
Alcohol percentage
 40,4%
Bottler
 The Whisky Exchange
=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros=25 euros< 25 euros
Tamnavulin SMOS 40
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Tamnavulin not in collection

Tamnavulin
10 years old

Age
 10 years
Bottler
 Official

Comment by Henrik Johansson

Appearance: Very pale with a slightly greenish tone and a soft sparkle. Nose: Freshly aromatic. A very fine iron tone. Paraffin-like. With water it becomes nutty. Reminds me of an old wooded house with old wooden furniture. Wet tarmac, sour fruits and aerosol spray.
Flavour: Quite dense and mouth filling but fine and pleasant at the same time. English bitter lingers in the finnish. Well balanced but weak. Development: After an hour it has still got a feeling of rain on hot tarmac. Not as complex, feels even weaker than before. A paper dry mouth feel has set in.
Comments: A refreshing dram with a clean feel.
70/100

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Tamnavulin
12 years old

Age
 12 years
Bottler
 Official
tamnavulin 12

Comment by Johannes Sauer

Colour: Medium golden, polished brass.
Nose: A real strange nose. Strange but not really beautiful or impressive. Let’s try to get it in words: Wet leather, sour milk, apple vinegar, a kind of sour fruitiness, not very appealing. Also a honeylike sweetness, perhaps comparable to the Standard Jura, but without its roundness and malty notes. Still dominating the wet clothes, a moist table rag lying too long in a classroom.
Taste: Again wet clothes lying too long in a washing machine (I cannot put it in better words), or wet newspaper, together with that honeyish but musty sweetness. Sourmash, yeasty wheat beer, also notes of rye whiskey and cereal coffee. A certain similarity to Jura is clearly to state, but alas, to me this seems like a cask Jura would have sorted out...
Finish: Short and watery.
Conc.: Maybe this is just a bad bottle, I will ask in the forum if someone heard of this rather obscure distillery and their whisky.
Date: 30. June 2009
Price in Germany: ca 30 Euro
11/20

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Speyside

Speyside Map

The Speyside area is situated at the North of the Cairngorm mountain and goes to the Moray firth. It is delimited by two rivers: the Findhorn at the West side and the Deveron on the East side.
The area is named after the river Spey. Most of the distilleries take their water in one of its affluents; the Fiddich, the Livet or the Avon.
About sixty distilleries from Speyside are described on this site.

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Click on the map for a list of the distilleries of the area, on the title for further information
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