Side by side: An Ardmore flight

I've written before about how good Ardmore's spirit is, especially from Indie bottlers - here I try 10 side by side.

Let's see what they are like!

First we have 5 ex-bourbon matured examples:

Dram	2010 9yo Casks #5/1, 6/1, 8/1 (James Eadie)	9yo Warehouse Collection (A.D. Rattray)	2009 10yo Single Cask #CM259 (The House of MacDuff )	22yo Black Friday 2020 (Elixir Distillers)	30yo (Distillery Bottling)
Characteristics	46% ABV	59.5% ABV	56% ABV	50.5% ABV	47.2% ABV
Bottler notes	Refill Bourbon barrels	Grilled Peach & Wood Smoke			Nose: An initial burst of cinnamon follows with a hint of pineapple and pears finishing with a soft creamy note. Palate: Feel the warmth of liquorice raisins and a hint of mint. With water creamy toffee and slight peat smoke with wood char appear. Finish: Savour the dry sweetness finishing with the wood spice, long lasting finish.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Very pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Very pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.
Nose	Distant smoke, tropical fruit, salty maritime breeze and a hint of seaweed. Pine needles, toffee and vanilla notes with a big kick of citrus.	Bonfire on a beach: smoke, salinity, seaweed. Tropical fruit notes with vanilla and citrus zest. There's a little sweetness in here too.	BBQ on the beach: grilled steak, pineapple, herbs, salted almonds, maybe honey roast cashew nuts? Some gingerbread hints.	Distant smoke, orchard fruit: apples, pears, peaches; citrus.  A little furniture polish and an earthy / nutty note - very different from the previous 3.	Hardly any smoke, a mix of tropical and orchard fruit, some vanilla, sugared almonds, liquorice and citrus zest.
Palate	A little thin but nicely oily, peat smoke and a honey sweetness give way to salted caramel and peppery spice. There's tropical fruit and a little salinity as the liquid disappears leaving dry peat smoke.	Thick sweet arrival, immediately blanked by dry peat smoke - smoked honey anyone? The ABV is a huge step up but not noticeable. There's some tropical fruit, a sugared almond note, peppery spice and a lovely salted lemon zest zing.	Thick sweet  arrival: tropical fruit, honey and salted caramel. Roasted salted almonds and a some BBQ smoke. The gingerbread hint from the nose turns into a lovely bite of ginger spice.	Thick mouthcoating arrival, orchard fruit, citrus, some honey and a little ginger spice. There's vanilla custard and a little cinnamon spice. As soon as the liquid disappears the mouth goes dry and ashy.	Thick sweet mouthcoating arrival, honey, orchard fruit, dry icing sugar and a little cinnamon spice. Dark chocolate and a distant ashy smoke adds to the dryness. There's a little mint, vanilla and the liquorice from the nose makes an appearance.
Finish	Short, gentle smoke, honey sweetness and a hint of citrus.	Lingering dry smoke and salted lemons.	Lingering dry smoke, honey and salted caramel.	Lingering dry smoke and salted lemons.	Medium length sweetness, dry smoke and a little citrus.
Overall	The James Eadie is a lovely uncomplex Ardmore, a definite step up from the supermarket bottling at about twice it's price. The 46% NCF offers much more mouthfeel that the supermarket bottle but it's still a little thin. The AD Rattray ramps up the ABV, the smoke and the spice - closer to the distillery character? I'm guessing a 9yo ex-bourbon is as good as you are going to get until Ardmore release some single casks. The MacDuff is a little more meaty, a little more herbily, but shares a lot of characteristics with the AD Rattray. The slightly lower ABV giving more fruit notes. The Elixir was the oldest Ardmore I'd tried (until the next dram!) and probably the least like an Ardmore! The 22 years had definitely tamed the smoke, orchard fruit has replaced the tropical fruit from the previous 3 drams. The 30yo distillery bottling is now the oldest Ardmore I've tried and to be honest it doesn't taste anything like an Ardmore! The smoke is very subdued, the fruit is all sweet and orchardy, the citrus and salinity has all but gone. But... it's a lovely dram, thick and complex - age has matured it well!

Next we have 5 finished examples:

Dram	2003 12yo [SMWS] 66.231 Rum Cask Finish	12yo Port Wood Finish (Distillery Bottling)	2011 9yo (Morrison Scotch Whisky Distillers) PX butt & Oloroso Sherry Hogshead	2010 9yo Single Cask #1313A (The Sipping Shed)	2010 11yo Single Cask #1313B (The Sipping Shed)
Characteristics	62.3% ABV 5yr refill Trinidad  rum barrel finish.	46% ABV	47.5% ABV	55.5% ABV Natural colour, NCF Oloroso 72 bottles	51.9% ABV Natural colour, NCF Pedro Ximenes 73 bottles
Bottler notes	Refined aromas gathered heather, orange blossom and croissants around burning gorse, bacon-flavoured crisps and salted ham served with horseradish sauce. Sweet meaty flavours continued on the palate but now with barbeque notes and soot covering honey-roasted parsnips, meringue and toasted pine nuts. Water made the aromas sweeter and more medicinal, with antiseptic notes and red shoelace sweets. Finally, singed cashews arrived on burnt toast topped with cumin before hints of the grill tray rounded out the finish. Seven years in an ex-bourbon barrel before being transferred to a refill Trinidad  rum barrel.	Nose - Initial nose of strawberries and summer fruits with a hint of pepper. Notes of burnt orange and cinnamon spice underlie. With water, the rich fruit aromas of red apple and cranberry intensify, accompanied by sweet honey and subtle spiced wood notes. Palate - Sweet red apple and honey with the subtlest hint of charcoal smoke. Finish - Initially smooth with a long, lingering finish culminating in the trademark Ardmore dryness.		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, this is a fireside dram to warm the chilliest winter cockles. A truly satisfying drop.	Nose: Earthy, meaty, bacon frazzles, leather, honey and some floral notes along with gentle spices, pine needles, and slight grassy note. Herby sausages juxtapose a sweeter, spicier sherry dimension. Liquorice, touch of yeasty dough. An instant charmer with much to explore. Palate: Altogether more gentle than the punchy nose suggests. Lashings of warm sweet peat, pine wood chips thrown on to a barbeque to cook those herby sausages from the nose, with sweetness and spice from the PX cask. A fresh earthiness comes through, more so with water, while the sherry notes add a familiar layer of cake mix. The balance is perfect – the indomitable spirit remains in control throughout with the casks refining rather than defining the whisky. Finish: Smoky and sweet, fades quickly at first and then lingers faintly for quite some time.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thick legs.
Nose	Tropical fruit: pineapples, banana, kiwi, mango; lots of vanilla, a little orange marmalade and some milk chocolate.	Berry fruit mainly strawberries, some citrus, a little vanilla and a hint of stewed pears. There's some salinity alongside the medicinal peat smoke notes.	A little farmyard funk to start, then the berries, salinity and finally the dirty earthy smoke arrives. Well balanced on the nose. Some cherry and dried fruit notes follow.	Loads of berries and cherries to start, a little salinity, some marzipan and then a lovely blanket of dirty peat smoke. There's some dried fruit, figs, dates and a little caramel.	Again loads of berries and cherries to start, sticky toffee pudding, dirty peat smoke and some milk chocolate. There's some liquorice notes, a little salinity and some vanilla here too
Palate	Sweet oily arrival, honey, toffee, tropical fruit - too sweet in fact! This need a fair bit of water. The  rum cask has completely destroyed the distillery character - tropical fruit and syrup have taken over - there's no smoke, no salinity, no spice - not nice.	Sweet oily arrival, mouth coating. There's berries,  honey, caramel and a lovely blanket of dry smoke. More sips and the dry smoke starts to take hold, little glimpses of the berries, a peppery spice and a little sour grapefruit. Yummy!	Thick, sweet and oily, lots of dirty ashy smoke to start and then the berries, dried fruit and cherries creep in. There's some salted almonds, a little sweet citrus and a bite of peppery spice. Some juicy orange notes as the liquid disappears.	Thick sweet arrival, immediately drying and a big bite of chilli spice. There's some mixed berry jam notes, dried fruit, a little marzipan and that salinity I associate with Ardmore. Dried fruit, plums, dates, figs - very Christmassy!	Thick sweet arrival, dirty smoke, sticky toffee pudding and a little toffee. The liquorice from the nose is back with figs, dates and molasses. There's a little burnt toffee, balsamic coated strawberries and a lovey peppered blueberry finish as the liquid disappears.
Finish	Lingering sweetness and cloying dryness.	Lingering dry smoke, berries and a little peppery spice.	Short and dry with smoke and some berry notes.	Long lingering smoke with a dry spicy note and berry fruit.	Lingering thick berries, smoke and peppery spice.
Overall	The rum  cask finish I actually left to last - I knew I wasn't going to like it after the first sniff - far too sweet and how on earth did it keep that ABV after 12 years? The distillery bottled Port Cask finish is a lovely dram, probably the best of the core range. Well integrated smoke, fruit and spice at a respectable 46% ABV. The Carn Mor is a lovely dram, the smoke probably dominates the sherry a little. Very dry, a little nutty and hints of salinity accompany the Ardmore smoke. The Sipping Shed Oloroso is what turned me back to Ardmore - a beautiful dram, keeping all of the distillery character and adding a layer of berry complexity - the fact that it's youthful I think helps the dram. The PX version is a little older and a little more complex. The PX has taken over a little, the distillery character is still there but it's hiding under the covers!

Again the indies (and the older distillery bottling) show what Ardmore is capable of - very good whisky. I really don't understand why they dilute down to 40% for the supermarkets - they must be selling loads of it but it just doesn't give the right impression of the distillery,  I know most of their output goes into blends, the website hasn't been updated since 2015, there is little or no social media presence, it's just really sad... Come on Beam Suntory - SORT IT OUT.

Huge thanks to @glen_scotia, @GascoyneNick, @chrislarkfire, @PSWhisky & @WesWhiskyDave for some of the samples in this flight!