Ardnamurchan AD/09.20:01, AD/01.21:01 and AD/02.22

If there is a distillery that seems to get a lot of flattery online these days it's Ardnamurchan. A firm favourite it would seem in the world of Dramface, with some really rather large scores being given for relatively young whisky. It also won the best distillery in the 2024 OSWA's.

I have no real problem with young whisky receiving high scores or high praise, I've given the same high scores and praise on occasion to the likes of Killowen, Boann, Dingle and Shortcross, so I was definitely interested to be able to get my gums round some samples of Ardnamurchan and draw my own conclusions. It's okay to get all fanboy-ish over a distillery but you still need to be able to be objective. Distilleries rarely get it right all the time, and that's great otherwise we wouldn't have the need for whisky review sites or even the opinions shared in your local whisky club or indeed retail stores. 

Ardnamurchan was established in 2014 in the village of Glenbeg on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. It's handily located beside the Glenmore River that not only provides cooling water for the distillery but also generates electricity for the distillery by way of a hydro electric generator. Sustainability is a key to this tiny distillery with the use of solar panels and also a biomass boiler fueled by wood chip from the local forestry. As you can see in the lead image it's also a rather handsome distillery with the essential pagodas but also a building style that fits in with the local built environment (although taking a quick peek on Google maps it's clear over development is not an issue on the Ardnamurchan peninsula).

It is also the distilling arm of Adelphi Selection independent bottlers who have quite the back story. The original Loch Katrine Adelphi distillery built in 1826 by Charles and David Gray, was not built as you might expect beside Loch Katrine in the Scottish highlands, but rather was built on the banks of the River Clyde in Glasgow near the Gorbals region of the city. The distillery was subsequently taken over in 1880 by Messr's A Walker & Co. who also owned distilleries in Limerick and in Liverpool.

The Walkers purchased a Coffey still to facilitate blending and by 1886 there were four pot stills and the Coffey still running at full production in the distillery producing 2.35 million litres of alcohol per year.

1903 saw another change of ownership with the Distiller's Co. taking the reins. But this would also see the start of the distilleries downfall. By 1907 the pot stills were silent although grain spirit continued to be produced. This too ceased in 1932. The distillery was completely demolished in 1971.

1993 sees the rebirth of the Adelphi name with Jamie Walker, the great grandson of Archibald Walker, starting the independent bottling business we know so well today. But by 2007 with the business expanding thoughts turned to actually producing their own spirit by building a distillery. 2012 saw planning permission granted, 2013 led to the first ground being broken in Glenbeg and by 2014 the first spirit flowed from the stills of Ardnamurchan. By the summer of 2024 the distillery released it's first 10 year old spirit with an outturn of 15,000 bottles.

Whisky Rover has already reviewed that spirit here so I thought I'd roll back to the first two releases from the distillery plus a cask strength offering.

AD/09.20:01 was the distilleries inaugural release and was made up with a vatting of peated (50ppm) and unpeated spirit that was matured in both bourbon (65%) and sherry (35%) casks. Bottled at a healthy 46.8% abv with an outturn of nearly 16,000 bottles, it cost I believe £45/€54.25/$57 on release...very reasonable.

AD/01.21:01 was the second release and had the same details as the inaugural release right down to the price.

The AD/02.22 was the first cask strength offering bottled at 58.7% abv. The spirit was more peat dominant in the vatting with 84% being peated and 16% being unpeated and it was matured in 5 sherry casks and 50 bourbon casks. It cost £65/€77/$81 on release.

All three expressions were natural colour and non chill filtered.

Let's taste.

Ardnamurchan AD/09.20:01 46.8% abv

Nose: fresh linen and menthol. Pear and green apples, honeydew melon, some fresh lemon zest too. A note of hay with a slight tinge of smoke, pencil shavings. Vanilla sponge, caramel sundae sauce and ginger nut biscuits.

Palate: sweet and spicy on arrival and still a bit spirit driven. Caramel and spun sugar followed by a burst of white pepper spice followed by an earthy note. The green apples appear again with vanilla and lime juice. 

Finish: is short with pepper heat lingering and a sweet honeyed note tempered by a light ashiness.

Score: 6 out of 10

Ardnamurchan AD/01.21:01 46.8% abv

Nose: Quite light and sweet. Apple juice, hay, unripe melon and citrus. Malt and some oak. Light phenolic notes too mixed with fabric softener. Roasted nuts and vanilla crème brulee. 

Palate:  More phenolic on the palate than the nose, not as sweet as the nose either. There is initially toffee apples and biscuity malt swiftly followed by smoked lemons and grapefruit. Mild pepper spice with some ground ginger and waxed paper. Some sage and rosemary too.

Finish: Pretty short with warming spice, cask char and those herbal notes.

Score: 4 out of 10

Ardnamurchan AD/02.22 Cask Strength 58.7% abv

Nose: Firstly this strikes me as creamy and fruit driven. Lemon curd, salted butter, tangerine peels and green apples. Tinned pineapple too. An oh so gentle peat pervades followed by oysters and green olives in brine. Water highlights barley sugar, vanilla and custard cream biscuits.

Palate: A little prickly on arrival but nice and oily. Icing sugar, lemon meringue pie, cream soda and Joker ice lollies (you may need to google these if you're outside of Ireland). Cayenne pepper, vegetal smoke, wet rocks and oysters. A touch of freshly grated ginger too. With water the peat becomes more prominent but not overpowering and has a slightly metallic edge to it. Some fresh sage too.

Finish: Medium length with vanilla custard, camdied lemons, sea salt, peppery heat and lingering peat smoke.

Score: 7 out of 10

Overall: 

There’s lots of hype around this distillery as the Rover Review highlighted. I get it, it’s always exciting for a new distillery to come online and finally showcase the fruits of their labour. It’s also important to be able to distance yourself from the furore and give an honest evaluation of the product that has made it to market. Especially if you have followed a distillery from the very start and have an emotional connection to what they are setting out to achieve.

I know I had very high hopes for Waterford and I invested in the inaugural release, the Pilgramage, plus various other single farm releases, but that didn’t stop me from being able to give an honest critique of those offerings. So much so that the subsequent review in partnership with the Raith Rover ultimately brought about the demise of our platform at the time. I’ll actually publish that review soon, it’s definitely worth the read (click the link above as it's online right now).

First of all I have to say I feel pretty fortunate to get to try a sample of the inaugural release as it's long since sold out.

This is definitely a solid start and shows that there is much promise at Ardnamurchan. The nose was really lovely but the palate, for me, just didn’t quite match up to it. I also have to say that had I not known previous to tasting this release that there was a 35% sherry matured component in the vatting that I wouldn’t have guessed that from the palate at all.

Still a bit spirit driven and not fully integrated between spirit and cask, there is still much to admire from a 6 year old whisky especially at the asking price of £45. For that price I don’t think anyone will feel short changed.

The AD/01.21:01 is sadly a bit of a backward step. It does again show promise but it has flaws. The nose offered much more than the palate could match. It felt much less integrated somehow than the first release and it just didn't give as much especially palate wise, the phenols just overtaking proceedings a little too much.

The AD/02.22 is definitely the pick of the bunch, possibly helped by the high peated malt content. Peat definitely works well in young whiskies and can often hide some of the inadequacies but this feels very well put together and balanced and was well worth the £65 entry fee for those who bought a bottle.

I've only see a bottle of Ardnamurchan once or twice here in Florida but hopefully I'll get the chance to try some more.

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