Ardmore 24 year old 1996 Gordon & MacPhail, cask 3515

(Ardmore cluster homepage)

The youngest member of this cluster needed a sparring partner, and one presented itself. The oldest member of the cluster. Both were bottled by indie grandpa Gordon & MacPhail after the spirits had been encased in refill sherry hogsheads.

This 1996 is indeed darker than the 2003, though it was also distilled in direct coal fired stills. Early '90s Ardmore is consistently gorgeous, so I'm itching to find out how this '96 holds up.

Distillery: Ardmore
Region: Highlands (Eastern)

Independent Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail
Series: Connoisseurs Choice

Age: 24 years old (27 June 1996 - 29 March 2021)

Maturation: refill sherry hogshead
Cask #: 3515

Batch #: 21/077

Outturn: 219 bottles

Exclusive to: Spiritual Home, Scotland

Alcohol by Volume: 52.0%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Dunnage notes frame orange peels, dried raspberries, dried blueberries, and dark chocolate in the nose. Menthol notes arrive later, followed by that snuffed beach bonfire note that I love so. The palate is very earthy, with a moderate smoke level. Key lime pie and orange creamsicles, dark chocolate and mocha in the back. Walnuts and mint in the middle. The "looooong" finish holds oranges up front, earth, walnuts and mint in the midground, smoke and industry in the background.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or ¾ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Oooh, it got even better. Ocean, toffee, mixed nuts, lots of lemon, and a pitch perfect mix of industry and farm in the nose. The palate "feels old school". It's boldly mineral, earthy and herbal, with Rainier cherries, walnuts and toffee in the background. The finish doesn't lose its length. It's mostly that wonderful mix of earth, stones and herbs, with a hint of those fresh cherries in the back.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

My gawd. Normally, I'm a 100% bourbon oak Ardmore fellow, but this whisky is excellent. I can't think of a sherry cask Ardmore I've enjoyed more. Beach, farm, industry, soil, rocks, fruits, dunnage, yeah. If you think I'm crazy(er), please see this review from Monsieur Angus who compares it to 1960s Springbank. There seems to be an art to sherry cask maturation that has nearly been lost. Nearly.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???

Rating - 91 (maybe more)

Ardmore 17 year old 2003 Gordon & MacPhail, cask 598 for K&L

(Ardmore cluster homepage)

This Ardmore cluster begins with the baby of the bunch, a 17 year old refill sherry hoggie bottled for California retailer, K&L Wine Merchants. This is the only one of the dozen cluster members that was distilled after Ardmore switched from direct coal fired stills to indirect steam heated stills. I tend to prefer the older process (of course), but I'm always rooting for this distillery so I'll try the newer stuff.

Six years ago, G&M released a 2002 sherried beast of an Ardmore, a bottle I enjoyed only at full strength. Let's see if this 2003 works...

Distillery: Ardmore
Region: Highlands (Eastern)

Independent Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail
Series: Connoisseurs Choice

Age: 17 years old (2003 - 20 August 2021)

Maturation: Refill sherry hogshead
Cask #: 598

Batch #: 21/178

Outturn: 196 bottles

Exclusive to: K&L Wine Merchants

Alcohol by Volume: 54.9%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

An entertaining mix of coffee, tar, eucalyptus, and moss starts off the nose. Some cloves and cranberry juice appear next. There's also something reminiscent of the cask heavy armagnacs from L'Encantada. The bold palate is all cigarettes and Chambord at first. There's some salty bacon and good brisk bitterness in the middle. Hints of lemon in the back. The long finish is full of salt, berries, grass smoke and citrus.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or < 1¼ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose has gotten a little funkier and nuttier; notes of dried apricots, raw almonds, smoke, and stones mostly, with an industrial hint in there. The palate gets smokier, with herbs and grasses in the midground, lime and salt in the background. It finishes with herbal smoke and a touch of dried fruit sweetness.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This was better than I had expected. Possibly better than my bottle of the 2002 G&M. Its contemporary approach to Ardmore, with lots of smoke and cask influence, probably makes it a good place to start this cluster. Good news: The sherry cask + peat combo worked. Not-exactly-good-news-on-Diving-for-Pearls: This whisky could have come from any one of 20+ other distilleries. So I can say it was well-produced, and I may have considered a bottle at a lower price.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - $140

Rating - 87

Welcome 2023! Here's an Ardmore Cluster!

Having been a refuge for the coronavirus on the third week of the year......and then again on the third-to-last week of the year, then burying my last grandparent, and being involuntarily moved to the most difficult job of my life, I am happy to see 2022 in the rearview mirror. But the year wasn't a total bust. I started dating. Yeah, watch out, ladies. Ladies?

**crickets wanking**

Oh yeah, I don't have any non-male readers anymore. It's a veritable snausage festival up in here, so I'm just gonna manspread while I type the rest of this.

Back in August, I tweeted this:

On this, my 44th birthday, I would like to thank the Scotch whisky industry for convincing me to get back to buying American whisky again. Thank you. 🫶

— kravitz underscore hubris (@kravitz_hubris) August 24, 2022

As a result I'm going to bring sexy Bourbon and Rye Day Friday back in March.

I've gotten requests for more Killing Whisky History videos (yes, really), so I'm going to try to do a few this new year.

And clusters? Here's one!

It's about damned time I had some Ardmore, so I'm going to start the year with a month of 'em. Each of the 12, except the first, will be from the direct-fired stills-era (specifically 1996-2000 in this case) and bottled at 20 or more years of age. If you don't already know, I adore this distillery, but I've never lined up multiple Ardmores side-by-side. I may even open up one of my own bottles. Yes, you read that correctly.

Will Ardmore and I still have warm feelings for each other at the end of this cluster? Or will 2023 begin with whisky heartbeak? Stay tuned!

(For more on Ardmore's history, please see this mini three-part series. Part One. Part Two. Part Three.)

ARDMORE ROLL CALL:

1. Ardmore 17 year old 2003 Gordon & MacPhail, cask 598 for K&L - "...contemporary approach to Ardmore, with lots of smoke and cask influence..."

2. Ardmore 24 year old 1996 Gordon & MacPhail, cask 3515 - "Beach, farm, industry, soil, rocks, fruits, dunnage, yeah."

3. Ardmore 21 year old 1998 Single Malts of Scotland, cask 750753 - "A very naked Ardmore."

4. Ardmore 20 year old 1997 SMWS 66.138 - "To recap: neat = curious and awkward; diluted = brighter and cuddlier."

5. Ardmore 21 year old 1997 SMWS 66.146 - "Every Ardmore can't be great. And this one..."

6. Ardmore 22 year old 1997 SMWS 66.168 - "A simple huggable Ardmore...it does what it needs to do..."

7. Ardmore 22 year old 1997 SMWS 66.174 - "...the neat palate hits that earth + citrus style I always enjoy."

8. Ardmore 20 year old 1996 Old Malt Cask, cask HL13770 - "...a clean, lean 20 year old single malt with just a touch of oak influence."

9. Ardmore 21 year old 1998 Thompson Brothers - "...more of a brawler...a relative of Caol Ila..."

10. Ardmore 21 year old 1997 Whisky-Doris, cask 901456 - "It's kinda perfect."

11. Ardmore 24 year old 1997 WhiskySponge, edition 76 - "...reads younger than its age...feels like it wasn't done cooking when it was bottled."

12. Ardmore 22 year old 2000 WhiskySponge, edition 69 - "...an Ardmore for sherry cask fans rather than Ardmore fans."
Cluster Conclusion

Inchgower 16 year old 1967 Cadenhead dumpy

Yes, the previous whisky was older but I wanted to end 2022 with this one.

The whiskies within the black-labelled Cadenhead dumpy bottles are dreamy, and I'm not entirely sure if ol' Cadenhead has ever topped that consistently outrageous quality since. My new year's wish is for all of you to have a chance to try one of those bottlings — owning an actual bottle is no longer a realistic goal — as they offer their own sort of whisky education about what was, and what is. Even a Tullibardine will do. Here's an Inchgower.

Distillery: Inchgower
Region: Speyside (Banffshire)
Owner at time distillation: Arthur Bell & Sons
Independent Bottler: Cadenhead
Age: at least 16 years (1967 - 1983)
Maturation: ??????????
Bottled for: ME! (I wish)
Alcohol by Volume: 46%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose: Dunnage and burlap. Mushrooms and black walnuts. Hot tar and Hot damn. Semi-sweet ganache. Hints of band-aids and the ocean. And then come the guavas and peaches.

Oh dear, the palate matches the nose. Black walnuts, tar, band-aids and dunnage. Tart guavas and sweet oranges. Horseradish bitterness, sea salt, bonfire smoke. It has basically everything.

Raw nuts, salt, stones, tar, and a few squeezes of tart grapefruit and sweet clementine are swept up in the finish's plumes of coal smoke.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

I knew this was going to be good but......this is one of the best whiskies I've had in ages. Like the Moncreiffe, this Cadenhead Inchgower holds a significant amount of smoke. But like ye olde Laphroaigs and Ardbegs it infuses so many other characteristics into that smoke, especially a stunning balance of sweet and tart and salt. What a lovely capper at the end of a less-than-lovely year. See you on the other side!

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - Don't tell me

Rating - 93

Inchgower 21 year old 1967 Moncreiffe, Meregalli Import

Now it's time for the real motivation behind this Inchgower series: two Inchgowers distilled in 1967. That's how I'm closing this year out.

Arthur Bell & Sons updated the distillery a bit in the '60s as Bell's Extra Special won the hearts and livers of scotch drinkers in Scotland. They doubled their stills from two to four in 1966, and switched from floor malting to sourcing, though when they did the latter is a bit unclear. So it's possible these next two Inchgowers came from the old floor maltings. SPOILER ALERT: These are very different whiskies than the Inchgowers I previously reviewed. Something must account for that, and I'm thinking it's the malt!

First one:

Distillery: Inchgower
Region: Speyside (Banffshire)
Owner at time distillation: Arthur Bell & Sons
Independent Bottler: Moncreiffe & Company
Age: at least 21 years (1967 - 19??)
Maturation: SHERRY casks (all caps, my caps)
Bottled for: Meregalli Import, Monza, Italy
Alcohol by Volume: 46%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

This is easily the darkest whisky I've had this year. Like Stagg-in-your-black-coffee dark. But don't put Stagg in your coffee please, unless you're ready to drink it on the toilet. Where was I?

The nose is MASSIVE. Coal smoke and dates and figs and very dark chocolate. Raw nuts and salt and toffee pudding. Seaweed! Ultra-aged sake (try it when in Japan!). It gets earthier with time, and picks up a whiff of dunnage funk.

Wow, the citrus rocks the palate. Limes and yuzu, peels and juices. Figs and coal smoke. Sultanas in black strap molasses. Dried savory herbs arrive later, as the sultanas and smoke swell.

"Power Citrus" reads my finish notes. Mizunara-style incense. A few dates, some heavy smoke and a hint of herbal bitterness arise in later sips.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Yes, you read that correctly, lots of smoke in an Inchgower! ❤ It's an absolute hammer at 46%abv. Subtlety be damned, it's loud and rude and glorious and this is what old Inchgower was like???! (See here and here for additional happy takes.) I can't wait to get to the next one!

Availability - Secondary market?
Pricing - ???

Rating - 92

Inchgower 28 year old 1985 The Whisky Agency

Inchgower went corporate in 1985. Guinness consumed the distillery's former owner, Arthur Bell & Sons, as the beast slowly grew into United Distillers / Diageo via hostile takeovers. The Bell's Extra Special blend was a hot property at the time, as it held more than a 1/3 of the UK market. Swallowing Bell's, Guinness gained a trio of distilleries in the process: Bladnoch, Pittyvaich and Inchgower. Inchgower has been the only one of the three to distill without pause across the past four decades, and is the only one still in Diageo's portfolio.

Today's Inchie may have been distilled during the Bell's era, or was among the earliest batches produced by its new corporate overlords.

Distillery: Inchgower
Region: Speyside (Banffshire)
Owner: Diageo
Independent Bottler: The Whisky Agency
Series: Stamps
Age: 28 years (1985-2013)
Maturation: refill hogshead
Outturn: 266 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 53.8%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose begins with bananas, barrel char and paint VOCs. Lemons and mineral white wine develop after 30 minutes, then circus peanuts a bit later. The palate comes in with a curious mix of dried ginger, cardamom pods, moss and sweet riesling. Tangy chiles and a woody bitterness fill in the middle and background. Black peppercorns and tart limes move to the fore after nearly 45 minutes. It finishes sweet and bourbony, until some tart limes and dried herbs make things interesting.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Now I find dates, pecans, lemonade and circus peanuts in the nose. The woody bitterness and tart citrus expand in the palate, with peppercorns in the background. It finishes grassy and tart, with plenty of bitter oak.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Serge was a bigger fan of this than I, as was Ruben and the Whiskybase community. The tartness and sweetness worked well on the palate, and the nose was never boring, but the bitterness — though interesting — was too woody for my mouth. Feels like something that stayed in the cask for too long, and as a result the whisky shares none of the great characteristics of the previously reviewed Inchgowers. For a different take, please see the aforementioned experienced palates' takes on the whisky.

Availability - Secondary market?
Pricing - ???

Rating - 82

Inchgower 30 year old 1990 Old Particular, cask DL14899 for K&L

I'm always game for some old Inchgower, so when I saw an opportunity to get in on a bottle split of a recent K&L Wine Merchants single hoggie of 30(!) year old Inch I leapt at it with both legs and some cash. Like Friday's OB, this indie Inchgower is from the 1990 vintage and spent its life in refill American oak. Expectations are set moderately high...

Distillery: Inchgower

Region: Speyside (Banffshire)

Owner: Diageo
Independent Bottler: Douglas Laing
Range: Old Particular

Age: alllllllmost 31 years (Oct 1990 - Sept 2021)

Maturation: refill hogshead

Cask #: DL 14899
Outturn: 225 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 54.4%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Spiced apple cider, honey and roses lead the nose. Ocean water, lemon and a hint of caramel fill in the background. There's a bit more wood in the palate but still plenty of bright fruit: think applesauce, lemons and limes. A swirl of golden syrup, cardamom and honey moves forward slowly. It finishes tart, slightly sweet and lightly tannic with hints of anise and peppercorns in the far back.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Apple, cinnamon and ocean compose the nose's body, with new notes of shortbread and mango providing highlights. The palate becomes hardier with tarter and bitterer citrus. Smaller notes of honey and cherry candy offer sweetness. Some more oak shows up, but I don't mind it as it reads almost smoky. It finishes sweeter with hints of tart and tannin.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Another one bottled at just the right time. The oak seems almost ready to take over, but it doesn't! I think I prefer it with the extra oomph that dilution provides. The spice and zing make it a better winter drinker than the average Inchgower. Because the OB Special Release had the benefit of being a small batch, it's slightly more rounded and complex than this 30yo, but they're very close in quality. Good stuff.

Availability - Might still be available at K&L?
Pricing - $250

Rating - 87