...where distraction is the main attraction.

Friday, January 17, 2025

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)