Ardmore 11 year old 2008 Archives, cask 708526

Okay, time to leap forward. These remaining Ardmores were all distilled in 2008 or later, so I'm truly in contemporary whisky territory. Scary. I'll need to fortify my courage with some Ardmore.

Today's single cask was issued by Archives (Whiskybase's indie label), and sold exclusively in The States. That all the bottles appear to have sold out gives me the naïve hope that America sees more Ardmores, after the Trump tariffs are long gone.

Don't stare too hard, it's out of focus. Or my bifocals aren't working.

Distillery: Ardmore

Ownership: Beam Suntory

Region: Highlands (Eastern)

Independent Bottler: Archives

Range: Butterflies from the USA

Age: 11 years old (17 Dec 2008 - 9 Sep 2020)

Maturation: ex-bourbon barrel

Outturn: 194 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 57.9%

(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Wood smoke-infused apple juice mixes with coconut milk, lemon candy, and kiln ash in the nose. It takes a couple sips before all the ash allows anything else into the palate. That "anything else" turns out to be black peppercorns, chlorine, and semi-sweet chocolate. The finish is also massively ashy, with chlorine and bitter lemon rind in the back. It's a palate wrecker.

DILUTED to ~46%abv or 1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose simplifies into ocean, chlorine, smoke, and lemon bars. Slightly milder and more navigable now, the palate comes in sweet and fruity, with the peat registering more like moss than cinders. Notes of clementines and blossoms arrive later on. Those clementines and ashy smoke finish it off.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This bruiser punches the drinker right in the teeth. Violent Ardmores aren't my cup of tea, but I take my lumps for the sake of science. I don't think this is one of the ex-Laphroaig Ardmore casks that Beam Suntory let escape into the market, rather the standard Beam barrel goes coy while the spirit stomps around. If you're a sensitive little baby like me, be reassured that dilution is the solution. I hope there are more subtleties and fruits in the next four Ards.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 83 (diluted only)

Ardmore 14 year old 2000 Exclusive Malts for Total Wine & More

I miss wandering back-and-forth through many many Total Wines' scotch whisky aisles, a decade ago. TW's shelves were always stocked with malts from Laings' and Stirk's brands, and several other mystery companies that I've never seen anywhere else. (Today in Ohio, I've nearly memorized OHLQ's entire single malt selection. Though the offerings have grown in the 2020s, Ohio has brought in almost no independent bottlings, and when they have, the stuff doesn't sell.)

The Total Wine shelves usually held a nice lineup of David Stirk's Exclusive Malts, a range that included a Ben Nevis I quite adored. At one point, an Exclusive Ardmore joined the group, and somehow escaped my grasp. Almost ten years later, I was able to get in on a bottle split thanks to Mr. Ricebowl, who'd unearthed his bottle from a whisky closet...

Distillery: Ardmore

Ownership: Beam Suntory
Region: Highlands (Eastern)

Independent Bottler: Creative Whisky Company

Range: Exclusive Malts

Age: 14 years old (May 2000 - 2015)

Maturation: two or three American oak casks

Outturn: 517 bottles

Exclusive to: Total Wine & More

Alcohol by Volume: 51.6%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

Apricots, barley, oats, and leather reach the nose first, followed by fruit cocktail juice, apple peels, and a hint of wood smoke. I find peat-smoked marshmallows on the palate, along with a swig of lime juice, so there's a mix of smoke, sweet, and tart in the foreground. A youthful spirity bite and chewed grass roll through the background. Wow, it's nearly new make on the finish! Eau de vie meets dried apricots meets grass meets wood smoke.

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

Now apples, lemon juice, and moss fill the nose. The palate is crisp and tart, like limes and green apples. It's a bit tingly and effervescent in the back. The subtler finish offers mild notes of dried apples, mint syrup, and smoke.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Firstly, I fibbed about all these Ardmores being from the distillery's Steam Coil Era. Today's 14yo was distilled via the old direct fired stills. It's a sweet, young, and friendly Ardmore bottled at a very good strength. I tried it side-by-side with the Adelphi 2002, and though they possess different styles, their overall qualities match, with this 2000 offered at half the price, albeit five years earlier (2015 vs 2020). Quality-price-ratio + time machines for the win!

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - $90-$100?
Rating - 85

Ardmore 18 year old 2002 Adelphi, cask 285

The new year has begun — if you hadn't heard — so it's Ardmore time!

I started this practice in 2023, then continued it the following year. I enjoy doing this because I enjoy Ardmore. Then again, I fell reasonable head over reasonable heels while drinking the direct-fire-stills years (pre-2002), and even though the distillery has tried to mimic the style with steam coil kinks(!) since then, I'm not convinced the spirit is the same. But that's never stopped me from trying more and more of the new stuff, especially since the malt's peat levels are right in my happy zone (12ppm, think Benromach and Springbank).

This time around, I have seven steam-coil-era indie Ardmores for ya, including one of my own bottles. Two of these whiskies were even bottled this past year. 🤫 Yeah, I know that's crazy talk on this blog.

Going somewhat backwards, oldest to newest, I'm starting this septet with an 18 year old Adelphi that isn't dark as coffee, thanks to its refill bourbon cask maturation.

Distillery: Ardmore

Ownership: Beam Suntory
Region: Highlands (Eastern)

Independent Bottler: Adelphi

Age: 18 years old (2002 - 2020)

Maturation: refill bourbon cask
Cask #: 285

Outturn: 228 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 55.8%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

The nose starts off with wet concrete, mossy peat, cocoa powder, and cheap plastic toys, which sounds like the beginning of a sad childhood tale. It brightens up later with notes of dates, honey, and honeydew. The palate reads peatier than the usual Ardmore, bold and punchy, bitter and peppery. Some grapefruit pith here, chlorophyl there, a dab of vanilla in between. It finishes smoky and tangy, growing both sweeter and bitterer with time.

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

Adding water brings out the sunlight here. Now the nose is full of florals, confectioner's sugar, cinnamon, and dates, with hints of metallic smoke and shredded wheat. The milder palate remains peaty, but also has become sweeter, as the nose's shredded wheat gets frosted. It finishes with gently sweet citrus smoke.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Solid, though unremarkable, this 18yo is a more of a winter warmer than the usual Ardmore at its age. I wouldn't have been able to pick this one out as an Ardmore had I tasted it blindly. That's not a bad thing, as long as the whisky is good. As noted above, dilution does soften it up, but I think I enjoy this one heavier. Thank you to Adelphi for not suffocating this spirit with a soaked sherry hoggie. As a result there's some actual whisky in this whisky.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - was £180 in 2020
Rating - 85