ARDMORE 1996 - GORDON & MACPHAIL

Quite often we see that the maturation of peated whisky in sherry casks turns out quite well, in fact there are already a few contemporary classics out there to prove that already - bottlings like Ardbeg 76 Manager's Choice, the Lagavulin 1985 21yo and the Talisker 1981 20yo. These are all island whiskies, which are often known for their peated style, but there's also distilleries on the Scottish Mainland that produces peated whisky - and one of them is Ardmore Distillery in Kennethmont in the East Highlands between Aberdeen and Huntly.

This particular expression is also matured in refill sherry hogsheads and is bottled by Gordon & Macphail, carrying the G&M Distillery label - a label expression also done by G&M with Glen Grant Distillery.

This whisky is a part of the Gordon & Macphail 'The Wood Makes the Whisky'-campaign... Here's my take on it...

Ardmore 1996 1996/2013 43%, refill sherry hogsheads, Gordon & Macphail

Colour is light amber

Picture by G&M

Nose:
Very sweet, yet distinctly peaty. Not heavily Islay-style peat but a rather delicate, yet noticeable one delivered with intertwining vinous notes. Quite delicious, actually. There's apple and some pepper in here accompanied by some lovely sweet candied and nutty notes

Taste:
Peat and a clear apple/pear theme and slightly burnt pastry. Quite some peated caramel notes and some warm banana over a bonfire. The finish reveals slight citrus notes and then heads towards thick toffee caramel notes and some spicy oak.

I'm most fond of whisky with an abv of 46+ because with those I can add the amount of water that fits my palate.... but one of the things that Gordon & Macphail seems to be quite good at is making sure that the flavour delivery in their whiskies almost never comes across thin. A big pad on the back to the folks at Gordon & Macphail for that... just remember to keep an age statement on your releases in the future too ;-)

85/100!

Official sample provided by Gordon & Macphail

ARDMORE 2000 - ADELPHI CLUB DENMARK

Located in Kennethmont, northeast of Aberdeen, Ardmore Distillery is owned by the Beam Suntory group who acquired the distillery in 2005 adding it to its Scottish Malt portfolio that already held the 2 Islay greats, Bowmore and Laphroaig and Glen Garioch in the Old Meldrum, North West of Aberdeen

Ardmore produces about 5,5 million liters of spirit each year off of 8 stills, much of it reaching the Teacher's Blend. Ardmore, however, are becoming more and more popular as a single malt, especially with people who likes a lighter style smoky dram, as opposed to the heavy pungent Islay whiskies.

Some of casks of Ardmore also reaches the independent bottlers and this one has reached one of my favourite ones of the sort, Adelphi.This year, Adelphi has, in cooperation with danish importer FC Whisky founded Adelphi Club Denmark - another name for 'bottled exclusively for Denmark' and sold through 18 of the best whisky shops in Denmark.

This year, so far, we've seen a 7yo Glenrothes , a 10yo Port Charlotte and, of course, a 14yo Ardmore reviewed below...

Here we go:

Ardmore Distillery - picture from geograph.org.uk

Ardmore 2000 14yo (19.05.2000/23.02.2015) 58,4%, cask#248, 137 bottles, Adelphi Club Denmark

Colour is white wine

Nose:

Clearly smoky, but not more than you can make out layers beneath it.

There's quite some vanilla, notes of apple, grass and some wood sap.

After a while it takes on a slight acidic nose, like lemon zest but the sweetness from both the smoke and vanilla makes the day

Taste:

Quite a creamy mouth feel for a whisky at 58,4%. There's still smoke, vanilla and apple there, but also some ginger pops up mid palate along with green banana this time. Some mouth watering malt provides a good backbone in this one, always keeping it in line with only a few oaky detours showing itself as a slight sour note.

Quite a good Ardmore, with more emphasis on the fruit mid palate and with the smoke making its appearance late in the game. It never strays too far off its path, making it a good alternative for those wanting something smoky and fruity sweet without the Islay punch.

86/100!

Finally, thanks to Soren from Skjold Burne Vinhandel for the sample!

ARDMORE 2002 66.36 'MILANO SALAMI AND TROPICAL FRUIT KEBAB' - THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY

We're moving to the East Highlands for this next review...

There's just a few active distilleries out here, Macduff up north near the coast, then Glendronach at Forgue, Glen Garioch in Old Meldrum and Ardmore from where the whisky in this next review is from. These last 3 distilleries is not far from the 'east gate' to Dufftown - the town of Huntly - only some 20 miles in fact.... and Ardmore is just some 6 miles (10km) south of Huntly, in Kennethmont.

Though a lot of people tend to focus on the closed distilleries of this region since stock is disappearing fast and some of it have proved to be excellent whisky - especially with prolonged maturation. Distilleries like Lochside and Glenury Royal, Glenugie have proven excellent - sadly long after they were closed. Others closed East Highland distilleries are Glen Esk (Hillside), North Port (Brechin) where the producing Glencadam distillery is also located.

Anyway, back to Ardmore Distillery which is one of the consistently peated highland whiskies and often overlooked by many. It's not as aggressive as many other peated whiskies - even some of the ones from Speyside... and certainly not the ones from Islay - but it can still show its teeth although with a different style of peat - highland style...

So whats the difference you ask? it's quite simple, actually, once you think about it... Oh, and don't worry - I'll save you the big botanical and geography lesson here. The peat from i.e. the west coast of Scotland is made up different botanicals than the highland peat and sometimes - at least on the Scottish islands it's often raised seabeds that the peat is dug on.
This means that the peat on the west coast is made up of old sea bed botanicals like seaweed (often associated with medicinal qualities) rather than the Highland peat which consists of traditional mainland flora like i.e. heather and moss. Quite simple when you think about it, isn't it? :-)

Right, time for the Ardmore write-up... btw, did you that the stills at Ardmore were coal fired as late as 2002? Cool, you say? yes, but the stills at Glendronach was coal fired as late as 2005!

Ardmore 2002 66.36 (17.07.2002/xx.09.2012) 10yo 'Milano Salami and a tropical fruit kebab' 58,2% refill sherry butt, 702 bottles, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Colour is mahogany

Nose:
Highland peat, not medicinal, but a more flowery style.
Hint of rubber, balsamico, mint, tobacco and truckloads of herbs and tomato grill sauce

Taste:
Light peat, menthol, old cigar box, bitter oloroso sherry, fruit, dark rum and dried herbs - even salt!

A very different expression from what you'd expect - another fun dram from the SMWS!

87/100!

ARDMORE 1992 - ARCHIVES BATCH 4

Ardmore is one of those distilleries that still lives in relative anonymity in the East Highlands, some 15miles south of Huntly. Still very much a traditional Highland Distillery, they insist on peating all of their malt to retain the old highland style.

Its more of an aromatic style of peat used at Ardmore and this also show in their whisky, which is far from as pungent as e.g. Islay whiskies.

Its been a while since I've had an Ardmore, so looking forward to this one...

Ardmore 1992 20yo xx.06.1992/xx.06.2012, ex-bourbon barrel#4764, 48,6%, 90 bottles, Archives

Straw coloured

Nose:
This is just one of those noses... Incredibly complex, warm vanilla and pear/apple crumble, rosehip for sure too along with a layer of smoke and a beautiful measure of oak.

Taste:
Spices first, then a dash of smoke giving away to fruit and honey - melon even?
The finish supply a sooty chimney smoke feeling, then getting very citrussy + peaches and pineapple too. Tannins follows this delicious dram to the end...

This is great stuff!

89/100!