Ardmore 10 Year (Blackadder Raw Cask)

 

As anyone who has skimmed this blog will know, I am a gigantic fan of Ardmore whisky: fruity, smoky, lightly peated, full of earth and salt, fragrant, at any age it never fails me, not once. 

So recently I discovered the fabulous whisky shop Passion For Whisky, based in the Netherlands, and simultaneously discovered they had a phenomenal selection of Ardmore. I bought three - a 24 yr from WhiskyNerds, and two Blackadder Raw Cask bottlings. This is the first of the Blackadders. 

Aged 10 years in an ex-bourbon cask, bottled at 60.6% ABV, this is part of Blackadder's celebration of 25 years of independent bottlings. Let's see how Blackadder's famous raw presentation fares with my favorite distillery: 

Nose: Quintessential Ardmore nose: soft smoke and peat, bits of industrial tar and minerality, ripe apple and pear and peach, salt and pepper, manuka honey, and a sweet grassy floral note. 

With a touch of water: It scents much older than 10 years after dilution. All the same aromas, just ... older. Hard to describe. 

Mouthfeel: Thick, creamy - typical Raw Cask presentation. 

Palate: Big flavors following the nose: apples, honey, Szechuan peppers, pears, smoke, salty rock pools, peach pie, malt, hints of sour brine, and more flowers. A tiny bit on the hot side, in terms of alcohol. A surprisingly well integrated palate considering it's only 10 years old. 

With a touch of water: Same as above - seems older than 10 years. Smoke, honey, apple, pepper, oak, all of it. Very lovely. 

Finish: Buttered bread, apples, pepper, drying oak, malt, and honey. 

Verdict: If you can't tell, I'm horribly biased. But I would put this head-to-head with Springbank 10 in terms of funky fruity high-quality drams that are a decade old. A win for Ardmore and another (typical) wonderful bottling from Blackadder. Keep 'em coming, keep 'em coming. 

P.S., check out the monster pieces of char in this!