What Ardmore can really be like

Ardmore gets a bad wrap for it's cheap supermarket NAS, most of its output goes into the Teacher's range of blends.

In this blog I'm trying an older distillery bottling and 4 independent bottlings.

Ardmore is a major constituent of the Teacher's range of blends, currently owned by Beam Suntory of Japan. Teachers was founded by William Teacher in 1832 when he obtained a license to sell whisky from his girlfriend's mother's grocer’s shop in the Anderson district of Glasgow.

When William married Agnes in 1832 they opened the first ‘dram shop’ in Piccadilly Street; customers could stop by and enjoy a dram of whisky. Their second shop was opened in 1836 and before long Teachers had a chain of nearly 20 dram shops where customers could sit and enjoy their whisky. Around this time William also applied for, and received, a licence to sell bottled whisky which customers could purchase to take home.

Photo: Ardmore

William Teacher had access to whiskies, both single malts and grain, from across Scotland and when the 1860 Spirits Act came into force he was legally allowed to experiment and created his own highly peated blend for sale in his shops. When he died in 1876, his sons William Junior and Adam took over the company now known as William Teacher & Sons Ltd.

The sons grew the business by exporting the blend all over the world including Europe, Scandinavia, the West Indies, the Far East and Australasia. As whisky grew in popularity it became more difficult to secure stock from distilleries so Adam took the bold step of building his own. In 1895 then bought land and in in 1897 built the Ardmore distillery at the highest point of the Northern railway line, 600 feet above sea level, close to the small village of Kennethmont in Aberdeenshire. Unfortunately Adam died in 1898 so didn't see his distillery finished.

Photo: Ardmore

The distillery started with a single pair of stills, that was doubled to 4 in 1955 and 8 in 1974. Today’s capacity is at approximately 5 million litres per year. 

Photo: Ardmore

As I've said most of the whisky is used in the Teacher's range of blends but some is bottled as single malts - the range includes a cheap supermarket 40% NAS Legacy, a 12yo Port Wood Finish and a pair of duty free 46% NASs Tradition and Triple Wood. There are also occasional older aged bottlings including 20yo and 25yo. Casks are much sought after by independent bottlers and that is what we are trying here.

Dram	2011 5yo (Morrison & Mackay)	2012 8yo (Morrison & Mackay)	2010 9yo (The Sipping Shed)	2009 9yo (Chorlton Whisky)	1996 20yo (Distillery Release)
Characteristics	46% ABV 2 Bourbon Barrels	50% ABV Ex-Islay Cask	55.5% ABV NCF, Natural colour 7yrs Bourbon barrel then 2yrs 55 litre Oloroso Sherry cask	60.1% ABV NCF, Natural colour Bourbon Barrel	49.3% ABV NCF, 1st Fill Bourbon Casks & Ex-Islay Casks
Bottler notes	Nose: Porridge with brown sugar, charred oak staves and a wisp of sea breeze Palate: Oily. Peat smoke persists, underpinned with vanilla and oat-y biscuits. Finish: A light touch of dried apricot joins the spicy smoke.	Nose: This is a peated Ardmore that opens with cigarette smoke mixed with fruit and vanilla. Taste: The citrus fruit goes on the palate with grass tones and heavier earth tones. The peat comes back which gives it a somewhat powerful taste. Finish: Warming and spicy on the palate.	Nose: Think whisky-cured bacon. Subtle smoky flavours alongside an exotic sweetness from the sherry cask which adds a hit of caramelised raisins and spice. Palate: Punchy, traditional style with a malty core and complex, spicy layers. There’s definitely Christmas cake in there, with the Oloroso influence perfectly complimenting the gentle peaty tones while the original bourbon cask adds soft notes of vanilla and coconut. Finish: Long and comforting.	Nose: smoky baked apple, served with orange cream and honey. There are a few more savoury wafts of smoked bacon & rye bread, and a little earthy & forestry autumnal feeling too.  Palate: ashy & smoky with burnt honey, and some darkly sweet notes of tarry treacle, gingerbread & liquorice root. Green grapes, candied orange & hints of caraway too. Finish: long & chewy with an aftertaste of orangey coriander seed.	Nose: Butterscotch, toasted nutmeg and fig jam, with the addition of water, vanilla sweetness, stewed apples, subtle peat smoke and orange zest. Taste: Lingering vanilla sweetness, crisp, dry smoky notes.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Very pale gold, almost white wine. Swirls cling, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thick legs.	Very pale gold, almost white wine. Swirls cling, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thick legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, beads forming an inverted crown before falling as slow thick legs.	Pale gold, swirls leave a hairline crack in the glass which eventually form beads and fall as slow thin legs.	Pale gold, swirls cling, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thick legs.
Nose	Opens with heathery peat smoke notes smokey bacon maybe, a little maritime breeze and a hint of digestive biscuit. A little time and air offers icing sugar sweetness and some faint citrus notes.	Orchard fruit - apples, peats, apricots with a background of ashy embers. A little time and air offers citrus and vanilla.	BBQ pineapple sprinkled with paprika! There's a lovely complexity - a smoked bacon note with chip shop salt and vinegar, strawberry jam notes and that lovely blanket of smoke.	Lots of floral notes , heather, wood sap, oak blanketed by a gentle wood smoke. There's a big bubbling porridge note too! A little time and air offers some citrus sweetness.	Toffee and sweet citrus open then a musty bookshop note before the gentle earthy peat smoke shows through.  A little time and air offers nuts and a little citrus.
Palate	Smooth slightly syrupy arrival, sweet stewed orchard fruit and brown sugar quickly overtaken by a dry ashy smoke and zingy citrus. Very drying with a spicy salty note. Nice!	Sweet honey and vanilla custard arrival, immediately drying - wood smoke and icing sugar. A few more sips offer a little peppery spice some orchard fruit. Nice!	Thick mixed berry jam notes, a little brown sugar, loads of smoke and a chilli spice bite.  Again a huge drying effect. A few more sips offers dried fruit and cinnamon. Maybe a hint of smoky bacon crisps? The liquid disappears and the spice kicks in again. Yummy!	Lovely smooth honey arrival, hides it's 60.1% well, a little orchard fruit and barley sugars quickly overtaken by the peat smoke. After a few sips the fruit comes through more and the smoke fades a little. Spicy chilli notes with a hint of citrus. There is a little bitter edge to this - smoked dark chocolate. Yummy!	Thick sweet arrival, the thickest of the five, age giving it a slight edge. Honey, orchard fruit and vanilla show before it's all blanketed by a thick bonfire smoke. A few more sips show the complexity - tropical fruit notes of banana and dried pineapple, citrus - sour grapefruit and sweet orange. Nice!
Finish	Lingering sweet honey with a dry smoky aftertaste.	Long sweet finish with a peppery spice note	Long lingering smoke with a huge dry chilli spice note.	Long sweet and smoky, a little of the orchard fruit from the palate and a pleasing kick of chilli spice.	Lingering smoke and vanilla with a sour citrus edge.
Overall	The M&M 5yo at 46% is probably closer in age and ABV to Admore's own Legacy bottling but it's worlds apart in terms of taste, the extra 6% ABV makes a huge difference. The M&M 8yo ramps up the ABV a little more and rewards you with a little more sweetness - the maritime notes from the 5yo are missing replaced by a little more spice. The Sipping Shed 9yo, with it's Oloroso finish is a different beast entirely, jam notes and a further ABV increase gives more spice and some Christmassy notes - on my first try of this I bought a bottle. The Chorlton is dangerously drinkable - there's no way you would guess this was 60% - the extra ABV giving more sweetness and spice than the previous 3 drams.  Admore's own 20yo is a the only Distillery bottling in this set, bottled at a unique 49.3% it's up there with the ABV of the others and doesn't disappoint. All of the drams were very drying, all had peat smoke in their DNA with the youngest and oldest having most and the rest having less. The Ardmore bottling was very good but probably the most expensive of the five, 5 times the price of the standard Legacy but at least five time better, the two M&M bottlings were equally as good - youthful but not spirity. For me the single casks from The Sipping Shed and Chorlton were the best of the five - The Oloroso casks giving the Sipping Shed dram a different take on the Ardmore peat but the Chorlton gave what I thought is the Ardmore ex-bourbon DNA - fruity, earthy smoke and a big bite of spice - Yummy! In conclusion - Ardmore create some amazing spirit - they really let themselves down with the supermarket 40% Legacy, don't get me wrong it's not bad but could be a whole lot better for a little more ABV and no chill filtering. The four independent bottles and Ardmore's own 20yo show that.

Many thanks to @whisky_brers, @stewedwhisky and @thedramble for a couple of the drample swaps!