In every new distillery’s history, there is a key moment: the Inaugural release. That first, often long-awaited moment when the public can finally sample the fruit of years of labour. And, more importantly, the moment when the distillery can start, hopefully, seeing some return from all those early years of investment. In the past years, there have been some horrible examples of how to get inaugural releases wrong, alienating the very whisky-passionate community that is keeping its fingers crossed for another quality malt to come on the market and fight the wave of enshittification. Luckily for the few bad examples, there are other bright ones, like today’s whisky in review – the Ardnahoe Inaugural Release.
Before getting into the review of the Ardnahoe Inaugural Release, I owe you, my readers, an apology. If you are a regular here, you might have noticed a bit of a posting gap in the past two weeks. As Forrest Gump would say: “shit happens”. Specifically, some intense work shit first followed by some health shit. Nothing serious, fortunately, but enough to prevent me from spending time writing, and, most importantly for the scope of this blog, imbibing alcohol. That’s all (mostly) out of the way now so back to our useful program.
TL:DR: One of the best-received Inaugural Releases of the past few years, and deservedly so. A vibrant example of what Islay can still deliver with a little patience and by keeping things simple.
Score*: 7, Very good stuff
New whisky is tricky
When reviewing new distilleries, it was inevitable that I would, at some point, end up talking about inaugural releases. And yet, from Clydesdale to Torabhaig, I only just got close to dipping my toe into the water. Ardnahoe finally gives me a chance to share my thoughts on what is, inevitably, a tough subject for both distilleries and the whisky-drinking public. And since I am a consumer, excuse me if I will put my point of view ahead of that of the distillery.
What would I, as a consumer, want from an inaugural release? Ultimately, I am looking at a glimpse of what is to be. There is a lot of leeway I am willing to allow to distilleries. Well, at least to a certain extent. It is a balancing act of age, price and availability.
I can accept a youthful whisky but not a green one. I can accept to pay a premium to support a new distillery which has invested years into producing at a loss and now finally can see some profit come back to reward that patience. But don’t ask me some stupid high price because I am getting “ a piece of history”. While I do not expect an inaugural release to be as available as a core release in the future, make it at least proportionate to the volumes the distillery is producing. Don’t go for limited volumes just for the sake of price-premiumisation.
Getting all three right is hard. Not hard to do as such, unless you really are a micro-distillery like Dornoch, where limited availability is simply a result of scale. What is hard is to actively resist the temptation of a quick buck and compromise one of these elements. There are plenty of examples of how new distilleries, at best, could have done better, and in the worst case, really mess up.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Inaugural Releases
The most common hurdle seems to be age, and it is the Inaugural Release sin I am more likely to excuse. Setting up a distillery is costly and generates a lot of debt, so the sooner some of that can be paid back, the better. So you release a whisky as close as possible to that 3 years and one day minimum needed to call a whisky as such in Scotland. With the risk of releasing something still too young and losing some of the goodwill of your potential fan base.
The risk of not showing the potential to come. A good example for me is Lochlea. I definitely wasn’t a huge fan of their Fallow First Crop, but having tried the third crop version at the Glasgow Whisky Festival, I am once again intrigued by the Lowland Farmhouse distillery. On the other hand, being young does not mean underdelivering. Just look at Lagg.
What is less excusable in my eyes is the artificial scarcity and absurd prices. Take Diageo’s Roseisle inaugural release. Launched as part of Diageo’s yearly special releases for 120£, this just smacked of premiumisation BS. Roseisle is a huge industrial distillery (12.5 million l/pa), so volumes are certainly not an issue. Nor is cashflow, for a company like Diageo, so much so that this was released as a 12 year old malt. Why not make this more accessible price-wise so a larger number of people could try it? Because Diageo is the champion of premiumisation as a strategy (just read their investor reports). Net result: the 2023 Roseisle special release is still sitting on the shelves.
Not that premium prices are a giant multinational exclusive. Just check Flakirk’s 198£ price for their inaugural release last year. Considering what you could get for that price, it’s a wonder anyone pulled the trigger outside of collectors.
Luckily there is some sanity in this crazy world. Enter Ardnahoe.
The underappreciated art of keeping it simple
So how do you do a new release right? How do you create the buzz that will put your first release right at the top of whisky fans’ attention? You keep it simple, stupid. Give it a bit more time, make a lot of it and price it fairly. That is exactly what Ardnahoe did. They waited until their whisky was 5 years old, even though a peated spirit like theirs is probably more forgiving to young age than that from unpeated peers. You make lots of it. 70,000 bottles to be precise. And you price it fairly at 70£. Well, fairly for a first release. But all that is in vain if the liquid doesn’t taste good, right? So let’s review the Ardnahoe Inaugural Release and check if the hype was justified.
Ardnahoe Inaugural Release, 5 years old
Specs
Price paid: 70£ (bought at the distillery)
Lot: L24 116
ABV: 50%
Natural colour: Yes
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: Ex-Bourbon and Ex-Oloroso, according to some reports 75% vs 25% respectively
Tasting Notes
Colour: a lovely natural light amber in the glass
Nose: The aromas are full and rich. There is no doubt peat is the main player here but the casks bring a touch of elegant sweetness to counterbalance the smoky punch. Does it smell young? There is just a touch of chilli spice that may betray some youthfulness, but otherwise, there are now new-makey or unripe notes to speak of. The peat notes are woody, medicinal and earthy. There is some iodine too but it is the earthy elemnt that takes over. I am taken back at digging wet soil and roots out of the ground. There is even a hint of farmyard manure.
Once the peat bomb explosion dissipates I start noticing the casks more. Vanilla and white fruit from the Bourbon cask, plums and apricots and some sweet spice from the Sherry. There is more sweetness from honey and some vegetal liquorice root powder and lemon verbena notes to close things off.
Taste: The texture is rich but not oily. Again, the peat is the main player: bonfire ash, BBQ sauce, some seaweed, and lightly medicinal notes. Then, it turns juicy with fresh and dried fruit (plums, apple, raisins), some mild chilli spice, and a touch of cinnamon and nutmeg. The finish is long. It starts peaty but quickly turns into sweet spice and wood, lingering on a mineral and slightly tannic aftertaste.
Score*: 7
After this review there I am glad I grabbed this Ardnahoe Inaugural release. It is a great whisky in its own right, even better considering it is an inaugural release. I love how it is unmistakeably Islay and at the same time it has its own character, more earthy than any of its peers. If you haven’t tried this, it is still pretty widely available. In the meantime, I am looking forward to trying the first standard lineup bottling from Ardnahoe, the Infinite Loch, soon,
* Scores are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
After writing my tasting notes, I always find it interesting to look at other opinions. Here are a few other reviews of Ardnahoe Inaugural Release I enjoyed:
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