Ardmore is one of those distilleries which is widely available on the independent bottling market. With the owners Beam Suntory mostly only interested in the distillery for blends the single malt market is mostly left alone with the Traditional Cask, Legacy and Port Finish the main entrants in the core range and only the Legacy available (very cheaply) in any great supply.

The Dram

Cask 94091 was distilled in 2002 and filled into an ex-bourbon cask. At some point before bottling the contents was recask into a Madeira cask. Madeira is a fortified wine which is very sweet and quite a heavy tasting product which will mix with the smoky character of the Ardmore spirit. The cask was bottled in May 2017 with 519 bottled being produced at 46% ABV. Some bottles are still available at the time of writing at £75.

Tasting Notes

Colour – Lemon Juice

Nose – lots of deep dark fruits of figs, plums and dark cherries. Syrup drenched pancakes, this is a heavy and intense whisky.

Palate – The texture is actually quite thin which is a surprise from the nose. There is whiffs of smoke and charred oak swirling around but actually the middle is a little thin.

Finish – A very bitter and drying finish with a lot of tannic oak spices, cinnamon danish pastries and burnt sugar.

Final Thoughts

If you every wanted to try a whisky which was almost a meal then this would be a good option. Apart from the palate which is slightly hollowed out the nose and finish have a mighty beast of a whisky. It was pretty out of balance I felt with the Madeira sweetness and the spirit weight conflicting rather than complementing each other.