Tamnavulin-Glenlivet 20 Year Old - Cadenhead Miniature

A modern Speyside distillery, Tamnavulin was constructed by Invergordon in 1966 and survived the industry-wide slump of the 1980s before being mothballed in 1995 by new owners Whyte & MacKay.  Distillation recommenced in 2007 and following Whyte & MacKay’s subsequent acquisition by Emperador, Tamnavulin has finally been given some investment and marketing spend, with a string of single vintage and NAS official bottlings in updated packaging appearing over the last few years. 

Generally speaking, independent bottlings are still the best way to discover the true potential of this very good but sadly overlooked distillery, although there was an extraordinary Macallan-esque 1966 cream sherry cask selected by the late Matthew Forrest for Japan in 2001 that appeared as a distillery bottling. Notable 1960s vintage editions appeared in the 1980s from Cadenhead’s and Moon Import, and 20-30 years later from The Whisky Agency and Douglas Laing, but Tamnavulin’s auction prices are generally very modest and great value for drinkers.

In 1842 George Duncan established a wine merchant and distillery agency business in Aberdeen. Duncan was joined in the early 1850s by his brother-in-law William Cadenhead, who took over the business after Duncan’s death in 1858, changing the company’s name to Wm. Cadenhead. When Cadenhead died in 1904 the company passed to his nephew Robert Duthie, who developed the spirits side of the business.

Duthie died suddenly in 1931, and employee Ann Oliver was put in charge of Cadenhead’s. Sadly, Oliver’s tenure ended in financial difficulty and on her retirement in 1972 the business was forced to sell its entire inventory. Cadenhead’s was acquired soon afterwards by J & A Mitchell, proprietors of Springbank distillery, who relocated the business to Campbeltown. Cadenhead’s has flourished under Mitchell’s stewardship, releasing many legendary single malt bottlings in the 1980s and 1990s and now has outlets in Edinburgh and London as well as Campbeltown.