Welcome to Ardnamurchan America!
Way back now in September of last year, I attended one of the few ArdnAmerica tour tastings. Got to meet both Carl Crafts and Connal Mackenzie who led us through a tasting of every Ardnamurchan and Adelphi bottle being released this year.
If you remember from my Caol Ila review, I left the tasting picking up a delightful Glen Elgin as well as snagging a couple of bottles of this new ArdnAmerica tour bottling. I’ve finally worked through this bottle and I feel confident in my review now. I was impressed, even at the tasting, but how has this bottle fared now through the last 5 or so months?
Distillery: Ardnamurchan.
Region: Glenbeg, Acharacle.
ABV: 57.8%.
Age: 5-6 Years.
Cask type: Hogsdeads and Octaves. Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez.
Price: $90.
Color: 1.8-1.9 Old Oak – Brown Sherry. Natural Color. No chill filtration.
Tasting Notes
Tasted neat in a Glencairn with 15+ minutes of rest. Dilution was added for the second half of the tasting with an additional rest of upwards of an hour. This review encompasses my initial impression to the final glass.
Nose: The nose is incredibly sherry forward as expected and equally complex. Dark molasses, toffee, and pipe tobacco ash. Lightly roasted coffee gives a green, wine-soaked tannic oak aroma. Hay stacks and prairie grasses. Not a floral note but a reed or dry leaves aroma. Cordial cherries with a light orange zest note followed up with a heavy dark plum syrup. Light bubblegum spice to the nose, clove-forward and reminds me of Christmas yeast rolls. Sweet marzipan and almond cookies round out the sweet sherried nose.
Palate: The palate can be more easily summed up: fruit and leather. Fruited breads with raisins, currants, and almonds all rolled up in a brioche loaf. Think Three Kings Bread. Musty tobacco flavors with a dark cocoa powder hint to it. The fruits are less intense than on the nose as they get softened a bit with more air time. The spiced nature of this dram starts to cloy your palate like a dried fruit and spiced nut mix. Think Christmas snacks around the holidays. The peat is faint and reminds me of a snuffed wick from a scented candle. I think it best to describe the fruit astringency as pomegranate, both tart and loud.
Finish: Distinct but muted flavors. It’s a pleasant experience after the more dynamic flavors from the palate. Cinnamon and clove linger forever on your tongue. Musty, earthy tobacco notes with dark chocolate and fig cookies. Rich and warming mulled wine. There is a slight astringency on the very back end of the palate however thankfully a few drops of water seem to mostly iron out these offputting flavors. A pleasing flavor and texture to end the dram on.
Overall
If this is your first introduction to Ardnamurchan, I think this is going to be an immense hit for you. The blending and selection of casks is top notch and Ardnamurchan did a fantastic job in the creation of this release. I do think, however, that the sherry hides a bit of the character that I’ve grown to love from the distillery and it sounds a pick nitpicky.
As Ardnamurchan continues to age up to that 10 year mark, the sherry casks in my opinion have done the heavy lifting in hiding the youth under decadent, rich flavors. It’s still there, mind you, just far less noticeable than from their ex-bourbon releases. I adore the core AD/ bottle and ArdnAmerica is a fun step above.
Final Score: 87
