Ardnamurchan Tasting with SWC

Following their hugely successful Summer Whisky Festival @SouthportWhisky Club have continued their regular virtual tastings.

I joined in for a virtual tasting of Ardnamurchan @Distillery1826 single casks.

The Southport Whisky Club was founded in 2017, it meets at Remedy and has regular tastings led by industry representatives and brand ambassadors. Over time they've built up a great relationship with many distilleries. A brilliant Summer Whisky Festival, info here, will be followed by a Winter one this December - more info here.

Their relationship with the distillery allowed them to be the first organisation to sell Ardnamurchan's initial release AD/09.20:01 -you can read my review here - along with the bottle came a tasting pack of single cask drams which is what we tried on the night.

On the night a Zoom session was organised with Graeme Mackay and Connal Mackenzie leading us through the tasting, sharing insights into the distillery and it's whisky.

What did we try:

My brief thoughts on the drams:

Single Malt AD/09.20:01, 46.8% 5-6yo (65% bourbon, 35% Sherry / 50% peated, 50% unpeated)

Nose: Peat smoke, vanilla, strawberry jam, tropical fruit, dry wood, some toffee. 

Palate: Smooth, sweet, slightly oily, strawberry jam, vanilla custard, hint of seaweed.

Finish: Lingering oily citrus notes, quite drying, peat smoke. 

  

Single Cask AD/CK.364-17/11/14, 58.2% 5yo (ex-bourbon with just under 12m in Champagne casks / unpeated)

Nose: Lemon meringue, berry sponge cake, tropical fruit, vanilla, cinnamon spice.

 Palate: Sweet, dry, spicy, tropical fruit, berries, citrus zest.

 Finish: Long lingering dry spice, hint of citrus - champagne like!

 

Single Cask AD/CK.371-30/07/15, 59.2% 5yo (ex-bourbon / peated to 30PPM)

Nose: Gentle peat smoke, orchard fruit, pine, seaweed, hint of spready cheese.

Palate: ABV hits, smoke, cheesy notes, spiced orchard fruit,  peanut skins, citrus fizz (could easily be a Caol Ila)

Finish: Lingering dry spice, citrus and head smoke. 

 

Single Cask AD/CK.670-16/10/15, 59.5% 4yo (oloroso / peated to 30PPM)

Nose: Spicy, herby BBQ meat on a beach, oaky, strawberry jam.

Palate: Sweet berries, plums, dates, peppery spice, lots of smoke, musty bookshop notes - a real sherry bomb! Citrus fizz on the tongue as the liquid disappears.

Finish: Lingering dryness, berry fruit jam, citrus, smoky spices. 

Many thanks to Victor at SWC for organising, Graeme & Connal for running the tasting and the rest of the tasters for an enjoyable night, you can watch the whole thing here:

Geeky Stuff:

Ardnamurchan's casks are number sequentially from the first one filled on 1st August 2014

Each release will be labelled as:

AD/09.20:01

Indicating: Ardnamurchan / month and year of release / batch number for that year.

The next release should be coming in the new year so will be something like AD/01.21:01

Single casks (coming soon) will be labelled as:

AD/CK.371-30/07/15

Indicating: Ardnamurchan / cask number / date filled.