When I started this series on new Scottish distilleries back in early October with my post on Clydeside and their Napier release, I had not planned to stick to this topic until the end of the year. The fact that I am still here on December 22nd speaks to how active the scene is. Even with that, I have only sampled a fraction of the distilleries founded in the past decade. And so, it seems only appropriate to tie things off with a distillery which has just turned 10 and is considered by many one of the best ones, not only among new distilleries but rightfully one of the best in Scotland. Today, I review Ardnamurchan and its “core range” whiskies: the AD, the AD Cask Strenght and the AD Serry Cask release.
The Ardnamurchan hype
Before getting into the review of the Ardnamurchan AD core range, let me get to why this distillery is so beloved by whisky fans. The dedication to Integrity Whisky is certainly part of it: all the releases are at least 46% abv, non chill-filtered and use no caramel colouring. That in itself is not unique, most of the new distilleries born in the last 10 years follow this blueprint. One aspect unique to Ardnamurchan is their dedication to transparency. Each bottle carries a QR code which takes you to the information specific to that single bottle. All the production specs are available, from the barley strain used to mashing temperatures, from fermentation times to the hygrometer cut-off points during distillation. You can find all the casks used to make up your specific release, including age and size and even find out who bottled your specific batch on the line.
This level of transparency is unique in the Scottish whisky industry and I have little doubt that it is one of the aspects that makes aficionados like me closer to this brand. That is all good and dandy, but it would be useless if the quality did not stand up pass muster. Three titles as best new distillery in the OSWAs 2021 to 2023 speak for themselves. And this year’s OSWA victory as Best Distillery in Scotland, even with perennial winner Springbank sitting out one year due to having won three times in a row, is an impressive accolade. The voice of the online whisky community seems pretty clear. For fairness’ sake, not everyone buys into the hype. I have heard more lukewarm opinions, although usually not in a negative way, mainly highlighting that the whisky produced is still young and is promising but far from fully accomplished.
Is the hype justified?
Today, I want to explore if I should buy into the hype or not with this review of three Ardnamurchan core AD releases. To be fair, the only core release in Ardnamurchan’s lineup is the base AD/. The Sherry Cask and the Cask Strength are special releases, but I consider them core since they are regular yearly releases which will continue moving forward. You could include Adelphi’s MacLean’s Nose blend in the lineup, but since it is branded Adelphi (Ardnamurchan’s parent company) and not under the distillery’s name itself, I think it is fair to exclude it. I have already reviewed it separately here. This will be a bit of a longer post – please let me know if you would like to see more of these. And with that, let’s get going…
Ardnamurchan AD
Specs
Price paid: €49.91
Lot: 04.22:02
ABV: 46.8%
Natural colour: Yes
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: a vatting of 2015 and 2016 peated and unpeated spirit, mostly aged in ex-Bourbon cask with a small proportion of Oloroso and PX aged spirit. As always, you can check all the information here for the full production details with Ardnamurchan.
Tasting Notes
Colour: Golden
Nose: Quite intense, mineral, mildly peated and sweet. Buttered popcorn, floral peat and crushed oyster shells jump from the glass. Cotton candy, a little lime peel and a sprinkle of white pepper. If I really wanted to find something to critique, I would mention that it lacks a bit of complexity, but I don’t feel like being a Grinch.
Taste and finish: Mouthcoating and slightly spicy, betraying the age a little. The taste is an intriguing mix of sweet, mineral and citrus notes, all on a peaty bonfire backdrop. Caramel, and marshmallows, lime and orange, brine and a little popcorn. The finish is medium long, briney, citrusy and just slightly peated ending on a drying chalky sensation.
Score*: 7, very good stuff
If I had to answer the question if the Ardnamurchan hype is real, this AD/ core release is what I would point to. It ticks so many boxes. There is an evident “house style”, lightly peated, coastal and mineral. It doesn’t hide its age, 6 to 7 years, behind active cask finishes hiding its youth (which I do not see as a bad thing personally) while at the same time not coming across as green and youthful. Some hints of youth are there, but they aren’t obtrusive or overbearing. The texture is all that you could want in a core range whisky: rich, almost oily.
As I noted, it is a bit “simple”, lacking some complexity you might find in older whiskies, but as an entry bottling, I can easily excuse that, even more so from a distillery that has just turned 10. And so the answer gets a resounding answer: the hype is real.
* Scores are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
Ardnamurchan AD/Sherry Cask release
Specs
Price paid: 71€
Lot: 2023 release
ABV: 50%
Natural colour: Yes
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: A vatting of 2018 peated and unpeated Ardnamurchan spirit aged in American and Spanish Oloroso Sherry casks and a small proportion of ex-PX casks. As always, you can check all the information here for the full production details with Ardnamurchan.
Tasting Notes
Colour: Rich dark amber
Nose: Young peat, mineral spirit and rich Sherry notes? Yes, please! This is quite a ride. Mint humbugs, wet beach pebbles, and wood smoke mix with sherry-forward notes of chocolate. Hazelnuts, dates and dried cherries. There is even a slight vegetal and leather note.
Taste and finish: Rich with a much more evident minerality. Treacle and tar, salted peanuts, smoked BBQ meats, and dates. This is a punchy, flavourful whisky, brash rather than elegant, but so much fun. The finish is long, with dates, smoked meat, and liquorice, finishing again on that drying mineral chalky note,
Score*: 8, something special
If you like coastal and peated whiskies aged in Sherry, this should be right up your alley. Rich, almost decadently Sherried on the nose, it takes you to much more maritime and meaty places on the palate. You could argue that using active sherry casks to hide the young age of the spirit, just 5 years old, is just a bit of trickery. This is, after all, younger than the core AD and the next dram up, the AD/Cask Strength. And while you certainly have a point, this whisky feels neither young nor masked by the sherry influence. Instead, the cask notes marry the spirit, creating a rich “grown-up” flavour palette. If all young whiskies reached these levels, I could reduce my purchases of older whisky and my wallet would be thankful!
* Scores are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
Ardnamurchan AD/Cask Strenght
Specs
Price paid: €65.54
Lot: 09.22
ABV: 58.4%
Natural colour: Yes
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: Mostly made from 2015 peated spirit aged predominantly in ex-Bourbon casks, vatted with small parcels of unpeated spirit from 2014 to 2016 aged in ex-Bourbon, ex-Oloroso and ex-PX casks. As always, you can check all the information here for the full production details with Ardnamurchan (and learn, for example, that Lewis Hamilton (not that one) bottled this batch).
Tasting Notes
Colour: Golden, just a nudge paler than the AD/
Nose: Considering the cask and spirit makeup, my first reaction is that this is significantly less peated than I expected. Upfront, I get some very bright orchard fruit, apples, pears, and also some peaches. Heathery peat, quite floral, and a touch of honey. The unmistakable Ardnamurchan minerality is there, as crushed oyster shells. A little minty note emerges with some time in the glass.
Taste & finish: Butterscotch, vanilla, woodfire, cigar tobacco, some chilli and ginger spice. Less complex than I would have expected. With water, It reveals more orchard fruit, smoked salt, a touch of ginger spice and orange marmalade, which has been slightly burnt. Medium long finish, wood ash, some orchard fruit and butterscotch, briney and mineral.
Score*: 6.5, Good, almost very good, stuff.
Ending up on a 6.5 after the highs of the Sherry cask and, arguably, the core AD, could be seen as disappointing. And frankly, as much as there is nothing wrong with this Cask Strength, it lacks some of the sparkles of the other two bottles, I expected an amped-up, peatier and bolder version of the AD/ core release when I poured this Cask Strength in the glass. It is still a tasty dram, expressing Ardnamurchan’s mineral & coastal character. It just doesn’t meet what I would expect from a cask strength expression.
According to some of my malt drinking mates, who have more experience with Ardnamurchan, the 2023 and 2024 are an improvement on the 2022 editions. The bottle I have was the second 2022 release, and it is the lowest rated on Whiskybase. Does it change my impression of Ardnamurchan? Not at all, but it makes it easier to understand why some whisky aficionados are slightly cooler on this distillery than the majority of the community.
* 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 the Ardnamurchan AD core range I enjoyed:
Ardnamurchan AD core review from Scotch 4 Dummies
2023 Sherry Cask release review on Dramface
…and on Words of Whisky
AD/Cask Strength 09:22 review on Whisky Notes
… and from GWhisky