Berry's Ardlair 2009 KWM Cask

Distillery

Originally written by Evan for a blog post relating to KWM's 2020 Whisky Calendar.

Ardmore distillery was founded in 1898 and was purpose-built to provide whisky for Blending, as pretty much all distilleries were at the time. However with Ardmore that hasn’t changed much – even today just about all of Ardmore’s is still being used for blending, trading stock, or selling.

Only a small portion of Ardmore Single Malt Scotch lands in official bottles released by Ardmore and its parent company Beam Suntory. When it comes to profile and releases, Bowmore and Laphroaig get plenty of attention, being the Islay darlings that they are. Auchentoshan in the Lowlands gets similar treatment. Even Glen Garioch gets more releases, and that is saying something!

One of the reasons Ardmore is the heart of Teacher’s Highland Cream and also sought after by independent bottlers is that just about all of the whisky produced at the distillery is moderately peated. I have only tasted one unpeated Ardmore that I can recall. There is also a lighter peated style that the distillery makes which is sometimes dubbed Ardlair. I suspect some of the Ardmore I have tasted have been this style, which tends to amp up the sweet, creamy and ashy notes of the whisky.

Independent Bottler

One of our favourite independent bottlers, Berry Bros. & Rudd is a stored London-based firm which has resided at #3 St. James Street, a stone's throw from St. James Palace, since 1698. Primarily a wine merchant, they have also played a prominent role in the Scotch whisky industry. In addition to founding the Cutty Sark Blend, and managing the Glenrothes brand for 30 years, BBR is also an independent bottler. We have long been impressed not only by the quality of their independent bottlings, but also their value! 

Berry Bros. & Rudd in Their Own Words

With two Royal Warrants and more than 300 years of history, Berry Bros. & Rudd is Britain’s original wine and spirits merchant. 

We can trace our history back to 1698, when an enterprising woman called the Widow Bourne started an “Italian grocer’s” at No.3 St James’s Street, selling tea, snuff, spices and the most fashionable drink of the day, coffee. The sign of the coffee mill still hangs outside our premises at No.3 today, in tribute to our roots.

In due course, our focus shifted to something a little bit stronger. As wine became important to the business, so too did spirits, and we started bottling casks under our label in the early 19th century, making us Britain’s oldest independent spirits bottler. Three centuries on, the family business continues to flourish, with its heart still very much at No.3.

While much has changed over the years, we are still owned and managed by members of the Berry and Rudd families, and we continue to supply the British Royal Family, as we have done since the reign of King George III. We still, from time to time, weigh customers on a giant set of coffee scales, a tradition which began in the 1760s, with Lord Byron, William Pitt and Beau Brummell among those who have had their weights recorded in our ledgers. Most importantly, we still believe that everything you should look for in a wine or spirit comes down to one simple question: “Is it good to drink?”