Tamnavulin has bottled a very special whisky to celebrate a very special anniversary.
The Speyside distillery is relatively young compared to its neighbors but has had more trials and tribulations than most. The 25 Year Old Moscatel Cask Diamond Anniversary has been bottled to celebrate its 60th year, but actually comes from one of Tamnavulin’s darkest moments.
The distillery fell silent in 1995 due to low demand, and production wouldn’t restart until 2007. However, in 2000, the distillery team refired the stills to make sure they were still functional. Over a period of five weeks, the small amount of the newmake spirit produced was filled into ex-bourbon American oak casks.
Twenty years later, Tamnavulin transferred some of that liquid to a single Moscatel cask, and aged it for a further five years. They then released it as a 295-bottle limited edition specifically for the Spirit of Speyside festival at a cask strength of 51.8% ABV.
This expression captures the distillery’s original heavier style of spirit. That heavier style no longer exists in today’s Tamnavulin. That’s because in 2010, owners Whyte & Mackay decided to replace the stills with a new shape to produce a lighter, more floral style. As a result, this release is unrepeatable and stands alone between two eras of Tamnavulin.
Tamnavulin is typically aged in ex-bourbon American oak casks, which allows the distillery character to shine. What differs is the impact of the sweet wine Moscatel cask, notable through the hints of cloves, incense, and perhaps even the sweetness of sultanas; these casks often give whisky a light, floral, and citrussy rise too.
Moscatel, made with the Muscat of Alexandria grape often found in Spanish and Portuguese dessert wines, is uncommon in whisky ageing. However, recently it’s made an appearance in the Redbreast’s Iberian Series, a single pot still Irish whiskey. While that whiskey aged in Moscatel casks for just 16 months, five years has imparted much more of the wine’s character.
The World of Fine Spirits was given a sample of the liquid and awarded it 89 points in Tasting Notes. It has characteristics both of a Speyside of its age and of what one would expect from a Tamnavulin.
The liquid is of a golden color with a medium viscosity, sticking to the glass but falling quickly. The nose is full of fragrant orange, the palate offers dark chocolate, and a long finish has the bitterness of freshly cracked walnuts. To read our full notes, follow the link below.
The whisky was made available at the Tamnavulin Distillery as part of the Spirit of Speyside celebrations, and was offered to specialist whisky bars, pubs, and stores throughout the world.
The release is priced at $348 (£260) and bottled at a cask strength of 51.8% ABV, limited to 295 bottles, tamnavulinwhisky.com
