Ardmore is part of Beam Suntory's Scotch whisky empire, along with heavyweights like Laphroaig and Bowmore. But unlike those two brands you won't find many official bottlings of Ardmore single malt out there, mainly because most of the distillery's substantial 5.5-million litre production capacity goes into the parent company's main blended Scotch whisky brand, Teachers. Located in the Eastern Highlands around an hour's drive west of Aberdeen, Ardmore was founded in 1898. The distillery was purchased by Allied Distillers in 1976, itself sold to Beam Suntory in 2004, and the distillery has pretty much sailed under most people's radars ever since. The distillery's main claim to fame is the fact that its eight copper pot stills were direct-fired using coal, but they were converted to indirect steam-heating back in 2001, so aside from this limited release 20-year old and the even-rarer and also discontinued 25-year old, you won't find any of the spirit from those direct-fired days in the distillery's current range. Another major and less-publicised change happened in 2001, when the distillery switched from almost 100% peated (to roughly 15 ppm) spirit production to producing mostly un-peated spirit, officially known as Ardlair, and unofficially known as "Ardless". You won't find any official bottlings labelled as Ardlair, since it's strictly sold to blenders and independent bottlers, but it's also blended/vatted into some of the distillery's expressions, including the entry-level Ardmore Legacy. Which at the minimum strength of 40% ABV, plus NAS, chill filtered, artificially coloured and almost completely un-peated, isn't much of a legacy. It is priced quite well, though, at around $65 AUD.
We don't see a lot of other Ardmore official bottlings in Australia. In fact, aside from that mediocre 'Legacy', you'll be hard-pressed to find anything at all. A few years ago we had the rather decent 'Traditional' expression (reviewed here) which was bottled at 46% and finished in ex-Laphroaig quarter casks. But that was discontinued, only to then reappear in both 40% and 46% ABV guises labelled as 'Traditional Peated' which for some reason is now travel / duty-free exclusive. But duty-free exclusive doesn't mean available in my book, so we won't count that one - particularly since almost nobody will be buying anything from an airport duty-free store anytime soon. Elsewhere in the world there's also a 12-year old Port Wood Finish, which is the only core range Ardmore to carry an age statement, and another travel-exclusive named Triple Wood, which is matured in three different sizes of American oak casks rather than the sherry cask finish that you'd expect from sister distillery Laphroaig's whisky of the same name. Why a large malt distillery with only four regular bottlings would choose to make two of those exclusive to airports and cruise ships, I can't say. But it's a shame, because there still aren't a huge number of peated mainland Scotch whiskies on the shelves, and some independent bottlings of Ardmore have shown that the distillery is capable of making very good whisky. As is the case with most of these quiet workhorse distilleries that mostly produce spirit for their owner's blends, this is where the independent bottlers come to the rescue. If you want a non-chill filtered, higher strength Ardmore, particularly with a bit of age (and age statement) to it, you'll need to turn to bottlers like Gordon & MacPhail or the SMWS. But this particular official bottling is certainly an exception to that rule!
What we have here is actually rather exciting. This is a 20-year old official bottling of 100% peated Ardmore, bottled at a probably-cask strength 49.3% ABV, without chill filtration. Predictably, despite being released back in 2017 it was never officially imported into Australia, but it recently turned up at one Australian retailer (Nicks Wine Merchants) who do quite a lot of their own parallel importing, which means they source from overseas for their own store and bypass the official importers. That's helpful when an official importer passes on a particular whisky, as is the case here - because I think this Ardmore would completely change many whisky fan's views on the distillery. Nicks recently did a similar thing with a cask strength Glen Garioch (pronounced "Glen-geerie"), another Beam Suntory distillery that inexplicably isn't officially imported into Australia at all. Thankfully this retailer also keeps the pricing on these parallel imports at a reasonable level, and the stock doesn't tend to last very long! In this case, that reasonable price was $165 AUD, which is an absolute bargain compared to basically every other whisky of comparable age and strength.
I first came across this whisky on my first trip to the British Isles back in 2018, where I found it on the shelves at The Whisky Exchange, for a total of 65 pounds. At the time, that was equivalent to around $110-115 AUD - for a (probably) cask strength, 20-year old official bottling of Ardmore single malt. Even untested, that is a very tempting impulse purchase, but I had tried it in a bar a few days prior so I knew it was actually an absolute steal, and I had to have one! I'm yet to open that bottle though, so when I spotted this whisky on Nicks' website, it was a light bulb moment. After a brief chat with two mates - not that they needed much convincing - we decided to split a bottle between us. And I'm very glad we did! This 100% peated 20-year old Ardmore has been fully matured in both first-fill ex-bourbon casks and refill ex-Islay whisky casks - given the distillery's ownership and past practices, that'll be ex-Laphroaig casks! And given that this single malt was distilled back in 1996, that means it was made when Ardmore's stills were still direct-fired using coal - and it's probably one of the last opportunities we'll get to taste that direct-fired spirit. Now being relatively lightly peated, and being a mainland peated malt, and being twenty years of age, we shouldn't expect an Islay or Island-style peat influence here. That's the case with Ardmore in general, and even in younger & higher strength independent bottlings I find it to be more leathery & earthy, sometimes with some dry wood smoke, rather than overtly peaty. Let's see how that's gone at twenty years of age, shall we?
Ardmore 20 Year Old, 49.3%. Highlands, Scotland.
Distilled 1996, matured in both first-fill ex-bourbon and refill ex-Islay (Laphroaig) casks. Non-chill filtered, possibly natural colour.
Colour: Gold. Probably natural - probably.
Nose: Dusty, sweet red apple skins, old leather armchairs & creamy vanilla icing. White pepper, a little dry honey, sandalwood & clove spice. A subtle earthy peat smoke in the background, plus a little vanilla sugar.
Texture: Light-medium weight. Fruity & spicy (pepper), slightly waxy. No harsh spirit-y heat.
Taste: Waxy red apple skins, far less sweet here though, edging on dry. More creamy vanilla cake icing / frosting, ground white pepper, dry old leather & sandalwood. Something reminiscent of tarragon further in, with some dusty old charred oak & a slight spicy peat.
Finish: Short-medium length. More white pepper, dusty charred oak and old leather. Then red apple skins again, plus some dried lemon and vanilla paste - almost marzipan. Some smoked paprika & hint of whole peaches, dusted with that white pepper, to finish.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: It's not going to set the world on fire with any crazy tasting notes, but it's a delicious fruity & dusty / leathery dram that is certainly the best Ardmore official bottling that I've tasted. That leathery note is how I find that Ardmore's peat influence shows itself, I'd even pin it as their calling card, while the drying dusty-ness and white pepper are very nice additions, probably brought on by the extra age. That pepper nosing & tasting note by the way is not to be confused with alcohol heat - sometimes referred to as 'prickle'. There's not much overt peatiness to be found here, and what is there is soft, subtle & spicy. Can't say that I find much influence from the Islay casks either, they were probably a little tired, but that't no bad thing - the balance here works nicely and any overt Islay-ness probably would've stolen the show.
What is certainly easy to find here though is the value for money. This whisky is an absolute bargain for the ABV, age statement and flavour that is on offer. It's most likely sold out everywhere now, but if you do come across it - for a reasonable price - don't be afraid to grab it immediately. It'll also do nicely if you're yet to try an Ardmore, since it would have to be one of their best efforts!
Cheers!
Nose: Dusty, sweet red apple skins, old leather armchairs & creamy vanilla icing. White pepper, a little dry honey, sandalwood & clove spice. A subtle earthy peat smoke in the background, plus a little vanilla sugar.
Texture: Light-medium weight. Fruity & spicy (pepper), slightly waxy. No harsh spirit-y heat.
Taste: Waxy red apple skins, far less sweet here though, edging on dry. More creamy vanilla cake icing / frosting, ground white pepper, dry old leather & sandalwood. Something reminiscent of tarragon further in, with some dusty old charred oak & a slight spicy peat.
Finish: Short-medium length. More white pepper, dusty charred oak and old leather. Then red apple skins again, plus some dried lemon and vanilla paste - almost marzipan. Some smoked paprika & hint of whole peaches, dusted with that white pepper, to finish.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: It's not going to set the world on fire with any crazy tasting notes, but it's a delicious fruity & dusty / leathery dram that is certainly the best Ardmore official bottling that I've tasted. That leathery note is how I find that Ardmore's peat influence shows itself, I'd even pin it as their calling card, while the drying dusty-ness and white pepper are very nice additions, probably brought on by the extra age. That pepper nosing & tasting note by the way is not to be confused with alcohol heat - sometimes referred to as 'prickle'. There's not much overt peatiness to be found here, and what is there is soft, subtle & spicy. Can't say that I find much influence from the Islay casks either, they were probably a little tired, but that't no bad thing - the balance here works nicely and any overt Islay-ness probably would've stolen the show.
What is certainly easy to find here though is the value for money. This whisky is an absolute bargain for the ABV, age statement and flavour that is on offer. It's most likely sold out everywhere now, but if you do come across it - for a reasonable price - don't be afraid to grab it immediately. It'll also do nicely if you're yet to try an Ardmore, since it would have to be one of their best efforts!
Cheers!
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