Tamdhu Distillery, Knockando: All Sherry Casks by the Spey
Tamdhu at a glance
| Region | Speyside (Knockando, Moray) |
| Founded | 1897 |
| Owner | Ian Macleod Distillers |
| Visitor centre | No — occasional festival tours |
| Tours | Occasional, during the Spirit of Speyside festival |
| Opening | Not generally open to the public |
| Website | tamdhu.com |
Overview
Tamdhu, on the banks of the Spey at Knockando, is distinctive for maturing its whisky entirely in sherry-seasoned oak casks — giving a rich, warm, sherried single malt. Its handsome old station buildings (it sits on the former Speyside Railway line) make it one of the prettier distilleries in the region.
The history
Tamdhu was built in 1896–97 by a consortium backed by Highland Distillers, at the height of the Victorian boom, and was technically advanced for its day — it long ran a large drum maltings that supplied other distilleries too. After a spell mothballed, it was bought in 2011 by the independent family firm Ian Macleod Distillers, who relaunched it as an all-sherry-cask single malt.
The water & the land
Tamdhu draws on the Tamdhu spring rising beneath the site at Knockando, close to the Spey.
Tamdhu had no founding clan — it was a blenders’ consortium venture. Knockando sat on the Grant/Seafield estate lands of Speyside.
How it’s made
Tamdhu runs three wash and three spirit stills for about 4.5 million litres a year and is one of the last Scottish distilleries still using mechanical malting equipment on site. It was mothballed from 2010 to 2013 before Ian Macleod Distillers bought and reopened it; its output historically went almost entirely into blends such as The Famous Grouse and J&B, but it is now bottled as a sherry-cask-led single malt, including a 10-year-old.
Visiting
Tamdhu is not normally open to the public, though it occasionally runs tours during the annual Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival; check the website. Its sister distillery in the Ian Macleod stable, Glengoyne, is fully open to visitors.
Nearby & more whisky
- Its Knockando neighbour, a couple of miles off: Cardhu — the home of Johnnie Walker.
- Next door on the Spey: Knockando.
- Planning a day of it? Our Speyside Whisky Trail rounds off Base 2 right here.
- The whole picture: Scotch whisky — the full guide
Sources
- Tamdhu distillery — Wikipedia.
- Tamdhu / Ian Macleod Distillers.