Jack Rose, June 2026 (Ardmore, Craigellachie, Bunnahabhain, Ardmore, Laphroaig)

 My good friend had his birthday at the bar at Jack Rose last week, and predictably it was a night of tremendous whisky. Also predictably, it was very expensive - but for a whisky fan, it was worth it. I had five drams that night, and bought a couple things at the bottle shop in the old speakeasy space in the basement - I'll review them in the coming weeks. 

 

The first dram of the night was an Ardmore I'd never had - an 8 year from independent bottler Valinch & Mallet, aged in ex-bourbon and bottled at 48.8%. Here are the notes: 

Nose: Honey, motor oil, cigarettes, apples, pears, butter, fresh grass, hints of milk chocolate. 

Mouthfeel: Medium. Slightly silky.  

Palate: Apple pie, smoke, pear drops, grass, honey. 

Finish: Smoked pear, butter. 

Overall, a wonderful Ardmore. I'm on the lookout for this bottle now, crossing my fingers. 

Next up was a Craigellachie from Blackadder's Raw Cask line, 8 years old, bottled at 58.9% ABV. 

Nose: Craigellachie funk, grapes, grape must, light smoke? Or machine grease, tropical fruit galore, pineapple. With a little time, a couple drops of water: smoked honeydew melon. 

 

Mouthfeel: Very thick.  

Palate: Intense grape candy (nerds), pineapple, light funk, bright citrus, citrus peel.

 

Finish: Citric bitterness, machine grease, farm funk, grape skin.

 

Another fantastic bottle. I love everything Blackadder releases, one of the few where I've never had a dud, and this was almost a guarantee - and it paid off exactly as expected.  

 

After that: a very rare treat that I splurged on, a 31 year official bottling of Bunnahabhain distilled in 1968 (!), which makes it easily the oldest whisky I've tried. 

It's the vaunted Auld Acquaintance bottling, and this bottle came from the collection of the late patron of Jack Rose, Harvey Fry. I had the good fortune to meet him once; I expected him to want to talk scotch for hours, but no - he was far more interested that I was a big fan of modernist classical music. We didn't say five words about whisky. 

This one was aged approximately 33 years in sherry casks, and is unpeated, bottled at 43.8%. 

Nose: This is positively antique. Everything about this nose exudes "very old whisky" - I get old old polished wood, old books, old glue, old red wine (a touch sour, a little grape, leather, tannins, blackberries), aged Armagnac, a dusty menthol. 

 

The longer you scent this, the more things appear - I get hints of cherry Coke, salt, minerals... some rancio. 

 

What's a little wild is if you go to the Whiskybase page for this, almost no two reviews agree. This nose is deep and you can pick almost anything out of it. 

 

Mouthfeel: Despite the very low ABV on this, it's very oily.  

 

Palate: Grapes and raisins both, old Armagnac, the lightest of smoke, bitter wood polish, old wood chairs in a library, old sherry (balsamic, rancio). The longer it sits, the more sherry comes out.

 

There is a ton of depth here: clay, prunes, plums, old dunnage. Chocolate and espresso. 

 

Finish: Very very long - a sinuous smoke note along with plum wine and Cherry cola notes last the longest.  

Next up, another Ardmore - this time a bottle from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, 66.128, nicknamed "Great fun." It was released in 2005 after 12 years in a re-char first fill red wine barrique. 57.6% ABV. 

Nose: Sour berries, red wine tannins, baked pork, smoke, light apple, cigarettes, machine oil. A good combination of red wine notes with the classic Ardmore profile. 

 

Mouthfeel: Average, medium.  

 

Palate: Apple, motor oil, red wine tannins, smoke, salt. With some time, clay, smoked meat. Red wine reduction. 

 

Finish: smoked fish, oil, orchard fruit, sharp wine notes, wood tannins. 

 

Finally, to celebrate my friend's birthday, a dram of his favorite distillery - Laphroaig. This was a single cask official bottling by the distillery for Jack Rose, called "Welcome to Islay." 

Nose: Seaweed, rubber, smoke, heavy coal, tinned fish in oil, some iodine. Very heavy on the savory/industrial. After some time, I get charred lemon and smoked tea. 

 

Palate: Coal, smoke, more coal, medicinal (TCP)... green olives for days, then black olives. 

Finish: My palate was a little fried at this point in the evening, but even so this one had a very intense finish of coal smoke, fried fish, peat, and dirty rubber.