The Tamdhu Batch Strength #002 58.5%

Tasting notes:
Start nosing this, and the first thought that comes to mind is “Whoever smelt it, dealt it.” The second thought that comes to mind is “I don’t know who exactly this Sherry is, but she most certainly smelt it.” It’s so heavy on the Sherry flatulence at first, the only word for it is Iniquitous. But this is no garden variety Iniquitous. This is Invictus’ fey younger brother, and he’s eating a batch of butterscotch cotton candy so big it rivals Divine’s best up-do in Hairspray. But soon, Iniquitous blows out of there, and leaves behind notes of carrots in maple syrup, alongside industrially designed fruit that later grew to be fully organic–and then started their own Pinot Noir vineyard.

The mouth, by contrast, is exceptionally sweet, categorically sweeter than the nose suggested, in fact. But there’s an underlying note of something darker: it’s Tarburst® candies, which feature pineapple and orange flavors that were engaged in what the company likes to call “fresh leather S&M,” and a mango subjecting a papaya to some exquisite shibari with new bicycle inner tubes. It’s hot stuff (but not in terms of alcohol by volume, despite the fact that it’s up there). The more we drank of this, the more we were convinced that “Tamdhu” is Scottish for “affirmative consent”–or at least we found ourselves hoping that was the case (for fruit’s sake!).

The finish embodies the Golden Mean: fiery, but not biting; brightly spiced, but not overdone–and the mankier bits from the nose are now distant memories. And it is long, dominating the back half of the tongue for some time, an improbably interminable equatorial sunset on the perfect evening on the beach. It expands the imagination beyond the reach of language to describe it, but you are better for having tried.

 

Rating:
On the scale of little-known facts about Marquis de Sade–
The Tamdhu Batch Strength #002 58.5% is the fact that he was elected a delegate to the National Convention during the French Revolution–It’s a notable fact because he managed to do this despite spending 32 years of his life in prisons and insane asylums. But more importantly, it means this paragon of libertine sexuality was also a key player in one of the more important democratic experiments in Western Civilization. Is there a connection there? You be the judge.



 

–Stephen

 
–Our thanks to ImpEx for the sample!