Category: Ardmore

Style: Sweet and Smoky

Nose:
Flinty, mineral-laden tropcial fruits and apricots charged up by vibrant spice. Kamquat, lime peels injecting some lightness into the aroma. Malt loaded with meatiness, ginger shreds, faint brine infused with peat smoke. Finish with sublte liquorice roots.

Palate:
Crytallized kamquat and jarred apricots leading a smoking hot malt. Ice cool menthol hitting a few high notes, gradually the core is settling down – showing some malt biscuits, limestone, honey oat, all tidily laced by barbeque smoke. Distant maritme notes, condensed water slipping onto wet moss. Burnt grass, more liquorice roots slowing churning out at the back.

Finish:
Light, creamy touch on smoky barley with orange sweetness and burnt leaves fading, all elements backing out and subsides.

Thoughts:
Ardmore matured in ex-Laprhoaig Bourbon cask, I have tried quite a few of these but not quite sure where does the synergy lie, personally I prefer the Sherry ones more… Now this is another minimalistic Ardmore, which is a style I really don’t mind, as it is all about clean and tidy, sweet and smoky. Easy drinking with few nuances, maybe there’s not much fanciness and sparkles to it, but in some nights, simple is good. A pretty care-free nightcap. Close to 1 star.

✓ [Recommended if you like the Style/ Distillery]

[56.1% | Independent Bottling | 2008 Distilled | 2018 Bottled | Aged 9-10 Years | Natural Cask Strength | Non Coloured | Non Chill Filtered]

-Esmond

[45%・Distilled in 1977・Bottled in 2003・Samaroli Bottling・Limited Release]

Nose:

Gentle minerals with a light dose of that clean Highland peat smoke.  Freshness from the stone fruits and guava compliment a smooth execution of vanilla.  Classy and chic, the Maestro had once again reinterpreted a distillery brilliantly.

Palate & Finish:

Caramel fudge with a slice of candied lime cake.  Quite a delightful delivery for the sweet tooth.  The smoke carries on thereafter, tipping the hat to the distillery’s more rustic style, whilst maintaining the balance stupendously.

Soft sugary finish, pleasantly light but lengthy, the malt is vibrant and the interaction with the fruits is fascinating.

Thoughts:

Pure bliss, a dram that offers a submerging experience..  if you get the chance, savour it.

☆☆ [Highly Recommended]

-Nicholas

 

Style: Sherry and Funky

Nose:

A big sherry wave transforms into toffee, coffee beans and wet flour dough. Mineral peat. Slightly meaty, barbecue pork brushed with honey. Smoke from crackling fireplace with bone dry spices. Vanilla and white chocolate slowly emerges with the malt. Unusual but interesting.

Palate:

Massive toffee, raisins and chocolate touchdown on the palate. Subtle peat wraps around the funky mineral-infused steam pork bun. Smoke lashes with a powerful whip of spices, trails of ginger zinging. The sherry holds the body, as spontaneous flavours firing randomly, a rather chaotic scene. Light herbal tea towards the end.

Finish:

Red grapes and black tea on dying embers. More fruits and finishes off with a smoky, herbal jelly.

Thoughts:

A three-quarters sherry bomb with a quirky style. Perhaps it is the peculiar combination of flavours, firing spontaneously with no clear structure; It is downright spicy; It looks disjointed at times but somehow managed to gel under the massive sherry. Not sure if it is for everyone but it is definitely one interesting dram.

✓ [Recommended if you like the style/distillery]

[57.5% • 2015 • Independent Bottling • Single Cask • Non Coloured • Non Chill Filtered • Cask Strength • Limited Edition • 606 Bottles • Aged 17 Years • Ex-Sherry Cask]

-Esmond