Mon 20 Mar 2006
“Mill on the Hill” is the meaning of the Gaelic word that gives this aromatic single malt its name, since the distillery sits beside the mill on the banks of Allt a Choire, a tributary of the great river Livet, in Scotland. Far from being a powerhouse scotch whisky the Tamnavulin 12 Year is rather mild and refreshing on the palate.
Let yourself be seduced by the bright amber color and the mellow herbal notes with peat, heather, and hay on the nose. On the palate the single malt is lightly spicy to me; some cinnamon and nutmeg come to mind, with citrus zest and other floral notes. I like the “roundness” on this whisky, which reminds me of an old and mature Bordeaux wine; the result of the twelve year maturation.
I pair this one with a light smoke, one not too dark or earthy, and not a powerhouse for sure. Pairing it with a Don Diego or a Belmore Torpedito, the latter available in Europe, has been very nice indeed.
March 20th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
Tamnavulin 12 Year…
We should do more on this site like this review of Tamnavulin 12 Year scotch, submitted by a new member to our Cigar Blogs section, Humiblog…….
April 28th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
I was in Scotland in 2004, and I had done some research before going, on Scotch reviews.
I decided on a brand called Lagavulin to bring back, and went into a liquor store in Scotland. Actually, it was a Department store with a Liquor department! Imagine THAT in the US!
So I asked for a bottle of Lagavulin (which was about 40 pounds, which was about $80 US at the time), and the proprietor said, “Before you spend your 40 pounds on that, I want you to blind-taste-test it against two others, and tell me what you think.” He had a table set up, like one you would see in a wine shop for wine tasting, and he poured me three shots of Scotch. I tried all three, with a bit of oyster cracker in between to cleanse my palate, and I said “I can’t decide which of these two I like better, but they’re both better than the third.”
It turns out the two I liked were called Tamnavulin and Benromach (17 pounds each, or about $34 US) and the one I DIDN’T like as much (still very good, just not as good as the other two) was the 40 pound/$80 Lagavulin.
So I bought BOTH of the other two (34 pounds/$68 US) for less than what I would have spent on the single bottle that I didn’t like as much.
I thought that was really nice of the guy to let me taste them before buying, and as a result he sold TWO bottles, and I got to bring the two home.
November 29th, 2006 at 1:48 am
The distillery dates from 1966 and there have been three pairs of stills in use since the start. One fine aspect of modern distilleries is the efficiency they achieve.
December 3rd, 2006 at 6:33 pm
My wife and I are devoted scotch drinkers. We traveled through New Hampshire which has the best liquor stores and prices in the New England area. We have just opened our bottle of Tamnavulin 12 year old. As usual, we took out first sip in snifter glasses. The taste is excellent. Rich and true. Quintessential single malt. This is about as far away from Islay as you can get. Thank God! I tried to read up on the brand’s history but it is a bit mirky mentioning something about a closed distillery. Oh well, closed or not, it’s sublime and reasonably priced (for a single malt).