Ever since my friend Rob had a bottle of the newly released whisky from Highland distillery Ardnamurchan, I've been very interested in trying some. This month's outturn from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") offered a 5 year expression, aged entirely in a first-fill Oloroso sherry butt - I couldn't say no!
Ardnamurchan is a peninsula in the Highlands of Scotland, by the Isle of Mull; according to Wikipedia, Ardnamurchan is one of the most remote of distilleries operating today. This newly opened distillery (commenced in 2014) was constructed and is owned by independent bottling company Adelphi, and it has attracted a lot of attention so far with really high quality spirit and casking.
Their wikipedia page offers this interesting tidbit: "In 2018, local children were given a charitable gift of Ardnamurchan whisky casks as an investment." Lucky kids!
Here are the official tasting notes from SMWS:
We were instantly transported to a remote church on the west coast of Scotland as guests at a wedding. The scent of ancient wooden pews, flower arrangements, and perfumes mingled perfectly with sweet peat smoke from the nearby houses and maritime aromas. The initial flavour was a sweet peat explosion soon followed by a creamy chocolatey texture and a never-ending finish of aromatic herbs. With water the party started - cakes, smoky marmalade, roasted figs, chestnuts and smoked clotted cream over raspberries. To taste, Swiss roll, chocolate mousse, lemon cake and heather honey - all of that with a wonderful, sweet, smoky backbone.
Count me in - ancient wood, flowers, chocolate! I am incredibly intrigued. Bottled at 60.7% after five years in a first-fill Oloroso butt. Let's dive right in:
Nose: Wow, what am I smelling here?? The more I inhale, the more interesting this is. This is peated?? The peat is overtaken by tons of sweetness. This is all flowers and perfumes, rich honey, and custard. No, not custard: condensed milk, right from the can. Or even flan. It's unbelievably rich and sweet. With a lot of time in the glass, you get some of the wooden notes that the official tasting notes speak of, but they are mere hints.
With water, it only gets richer - cake, roasted chesnuts, more condensed milk are added to the mix.
Deeper into the bottle, a very savory "game meat" like venison in red wine or maybe grilled duck comes forward. Along with a million herbs - weirdly, I smell chives on a red hot baked potato here...
Mouthfeel: Very rich and thick.
Palate: This is a very interesting whisky. The peat separates from the sweetness a lot more on the palate: peat and smoke is immediately followed by vanilla and chocolate, and a massive bouquet of flowers. This is so floral! Step down Bowmore, smoke-and-flowers has a new king on the throne. Slowly emerging from the glass is a really interesting note here, of sweet honeyed apples, honeyed pears, and tart berries. At the very end of the development, moving into the finish, is a beautiful smoke.
With a bit of water, the tart berries come to the front - raspberries and cream. Or maybe vanilla ice cream stuffed with blackberries. So sweet: luscious. And what is this?? Coffee! Specifically, cafe au lait. Right at the end of the development.
Deeper into the bottle, that game meat (venison!) really shines through, along with tons of green herbs, like chives, heather, and fresh cut grass. It rounds out quite a bit as the bottle ages - super sweet, but with balance.
Finish: Wonderful finish, although too short: smoke and berries, sweet honey, and a little pepper. With water, a little coffee is added.
Verdict: Good god, what a fascinating young whisky! At only five years old, this is some extremely drinkable whisky - I salute the good people at Ardnamurchan, who have produced an intensely high quality spirit and married it to what seems to be a really good cask. I can only imagine this in another 5-7 years!
What's fascinating to me is that the first-fill Oloroso butt adds surprisingly little dimensions here and there (mostly the sulfurous game meat note, I suspect), but never takes charge - after only 5 years, how could it? - so the essential flavors are the very high quality spirit itself.
So fragrant, so sweet... this is not what I was expecting. I thought this would be another peat bomb, a la Islay, but I am delighted to say I was dead wrong. This could easily be served as a dessert whisky. It's enchanting. I highly recommend.
On a side note, I rarely quibble with the nicknames the SMWS gives to its bottles, but "Peaty Peninsula" is terrible. TERRRRRRRRRIBLE. This whisky is gently peated with lots of balance and integration, the name is unimaginative and non-descriptive, and they have done so much better in the past. Unsure what happened here. C'mon guys!
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