Ardnamurchan 6 Year (SMWS 149.3 "A Walk in the Woods")

 

Ardnamurchan is one of the newer distilleries in Scotland, and probably the most prominent of the new crop to emerge in the last decade or so. I've had a couple of their official bottlings (excellent) and also a single cask from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS") which was quite good, although a little offbeat. 

SMWS just released a couple more single cask bottlings from Ardnamurchan, and I picked them up. One is peated, one is unpeated; this is the unpeated offering. A brash 6 years old, filed under SMWS's Young & Sprightly category. 

Here are the official notes: 

Immediately, we were walking in pine forests, hunting mushrooms and smoking pipes; after that the nose wafted brown sugar, toasted marshmallows and clover honey, apple tart, gooseberry jam and plums. The punchy palate delivered caña de lomo, black olives and liquorice paper roll-ups, then chocolate éclair and treacle toffee sweetness, finishing with tannic oak, gingerbread and aniseed balls. The reduced nose suggested salted crackers, boquerones, old book shops and cigarette packets, shortbread, chocolate raisins and sweet white wine. The palate now combined hot chocolate and iced caramels with orange peel, lemon drops, clove rock, ginger biscuits and nibbling a lady’s glove.

Full sherry maturation, eh? I'm super curious. Bottled at 64.4% ABV, let's dive in:

Nose: Pretty rich for only six years young. I get: chocolate malt balls, sauteed mushrooms (in red wine), light and delicate smoke. As it unwinds in the glass, stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, plums), apples, burnt molasses, honey, and rancio. Chocolate raisins (Nestle Raisinettes). 

Mouthfeel: Surprisingly syrupy!

Palate: Alcohol blast (64.4%, indeed), followed by chocolate marshmallows, molasses, some licorice. A second sip reveals a ton of meaty/rancio notes. Salted chocolate. Honey. This sherry cask must have been very active. 

Usually the distillery where I get tons of chocolate notes with sherry is Macallan, but this is chocolate to the nines. Some fruit on the palate as well, along with crystallized ginger. Surprisingly rich and tasty for only six years. 

Finish: Chocolate, light smoke, olives, pork and herbs, numbing alcohol, and caramel. Quite rich, quite long. 

Verdict: A lovely whisky from Ardnamurchan. I'm very surprised at the depth of flavor they coaxed out of such young spirit. Really nice if you in the market for a sherry bomb. My only complaint is that it's a little too hot for my preference at 64.4%: the alcohol tends to obliterate the more nuanced flavors at first. But it calms down (or, more likely, my tongue just gives up) after a while or with some water. Recommended.