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1257 Kensington Road NW
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If only there was an official Ardmore 25 year old. In the meantime, as we say, we're grateful for the indie bottlers, who offer a peek behind the curtain every now and then. SMOS has become one of our most trusted bottlers, so we're pretty excited to see this one land. Producer Note: "This is a marriage of whiskies from 1997, matured in just three hogsheads which yielded a total of 772 bottles." 89.55pts Whiskybase
Natural colour, non-chill filtered, and bottled at 48.6% abv.
700 mlAndrew's Tasting Note
Nose: rich, fruity, and chocolaty, with soft sweet spices; dark chocolate with ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg; assorted fruit but also some of the weird Jelly Bellies... who doesn't love a nice melange; Reece's Pieces, Fruit by the Foot, and mixed berry jam.
Palate: sooh much chocolate... Carnation hot chocolate powder with marshmallows (before you add the water); mole sauce, dark baker's chocolate, and raw coaco nibbs; hot candied ginger, paprika, sage fried to a crips in olive oil; savoury southwest BBQ notes, teriyaki beef jerky, and damp wood smoke; more assorted, call it random, Jelly Bellies; there's a touch of fruit there, but it's playing 3rf or 4th fiddle.
Finish: warming, spicy, and smoky, with more chocolate and BBQ notes; balanced and elegant.
Comment: I often find young Ardmores rather bracing, but I've not had many older bottlings that didn't meet my taste; the spirit seems to really catch its stride after a couple of decades; this one is excellent
Producer Tasting Note
Nose: Dry spice and cake mix, with hints of basil and tarragon balanced against milk chocolate and ginger.
Palate: Beautifully soft and creamy with flavours of stem ginger, eucalyptus and shortbread. Notes of strawberry and lemon tart build.
Finish: Dry mint with summer berries and chocolate.
$159.99
Ardmore in Ratafia. Hmmmm. Anyone else imagining Braveheart meets Versailles? Trust our friend Gilles Dumangin to marry a rough-and-tumble Highlander with the elegance of French wine. This peated malt spent 9 years in a Refill Hogshead before being moved into an ex-Ratafia Champenois barrel for a 2 year polishing.
281 bottles. Natural colour and non-chill filtered. 48%
$389.99
Bottled under Gordon & MacPhail's Distillery Label range, this 1996 vintage Ardmore was matured in refill American hogsheads, before bottling at 46%. It is comparable aged and priced to the 25 Year G&M CC Ardmore 1997 KWM Cask we are expecting in early April... thought the latter is cask strength, and rather sherried!
$177.99
Hot take: the G&M semi-official Ardmore, bottled under the Distillery Label series, is far superior to the official branded releases. It's also abundantly clear that Ardmore is being handled with love and care at Gordon & MacPhail, where they match that big earthy, organic spirit profile with incredibly complimentary cask types. In this case, Refill Sherry Hogsheads. Miss this one at your own risk.
Natural colour, non chill-filtered, and bottled at 46%.
