Category: Speyside
Owner: Highland Distilleries
Status: In production; 2nd Class 
| During the whisky boom of the 1880s no fewer than three distilleries were built in the parish of Knockandhu (Tamdhu Knockandhu and Imperial). The site for Tamdhu was known locally as 'the smugglers' glen', and had been popular with illicit distillers on account of the excellence of its spring water. When it went into production in 1897, the distillery was one of the most modern in the UK. It still has its own Saladin maltings - today it is the only Speyside distillery to malt its own barley. By 1903 it was producing 135,00 proof gallons of spirit, but with the downturn in demand in 1906, this was halved. Recovery was strong after the war, but the Depression followed, and the distillery closed in 1928. It remained closed for twenty years, but by the early 1970s was in such demand from the blenders that it was doubled in size. It is an important ingredient in The Famous Grouse and sells well as a single malt in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal and the USA.
Extracts from The Mitchell Beazley Pocket Whisky Book by the whisky expert Charles Maclean
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