Welcome back Everyone! Today I thought we should take a look at Ardmore Distillery and two independent bottlings from them. I really like Ardmore, their flavor profile and their minimalist, traditional original bottlings. In this article you will see pictures from my good friend Tölgyesi Norbert's site Dramazin.hu. He agreed to let me use his pictures. I asked him because I don't have these bottles on hand anymore so I couldn't take pictures of them. Many thanks again Norbi. I only have one picture of these bottles that you will see later on in this article. Firstly I will tell you a bit about Ardmore Distillery and then we will get to the two bottles. I am really excited. Ardmore is not liked by much for some reason. If you ask why? Noone knows. It's like Nickelback in the music industry. Lots of people hate them for no reason, and if you ask them why? They don't know. I digress. Strap in, let's get into it.

About the distillery

Ardmore distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery, located in the village of Kennethmont, Scotland. The distillery is owned and operated by Suntory Global Spirits, an subsidiary of Suntory Holdings of Osaka, Japan.

Ardmore is nestled in the Garioch's green, rolling hills in Aberdeenshire. It is the key component of Teacher's Highland Cream, with very little being bottled as a single malt. Ardmore was established in 1898 by Adam Teacher, William Teacher's son, solely to produce malt whisky for the family's blended scotch. Teacher bought the land for the distillery from an old family friend, Col. Leith-Hay. The location was ideal: water was abundant, peat could be extracted from the nearby moorland, and the Garioch's farmland provided a plentiful barley source. Most importantly, Teacher built Ardmore next to the mainline railway between Aberdeen and Inverness.

The water for the Ardmore Whisky comes from water sources at the Knockandy hill. Up untill the mid 70s Ardmore had its own malting and its own cooperage. As they produce mostly for the Blended Malt industry the output is at a high 5.2 million liters of spirit per year. 

Ardmore has four wash stills and four spirit stills with a capacity of 15.000 liters each. The intermediate piece is very round and doesn't inlcude any reflux bowls. The lyne arm is falling after the bent and the neck is rather short and wide. This would suggest a rather intensive spirit.

Ardmore started with two stills. 60 years later the number was doubled to four stills. And in 1975 the distillery doubled the stills again to a total of 8 stills.

Up until the turn from 2000 to 2001 the Ardmore stills were heated with coal rather than hot steam.

After the takeover in 1976 the malting floors were closed and Ardmore had to buy their malt at the big malting factories. Ardmore's malt is lightly peated and that gives the malt just the right kick to be a bit more exciting than the usual Speyside Whisky. 

Some of the warehouses at Ardmore are the former malting floors that have been reconstructed to suit as warehouses. The choice of casks at Ardmore are mostly ex-Bourbon with the Quater casks to finish.

Ardmore stands out among Highland distilleries for its unique peated malt, known for its complexity and character. Single malt expressions from Ardmore are rare, as 95% of the whisky is used in Teacher's Blended Scotch, one of the largest-selling whiskies globally.

Ardmore's potential has been recognized by its owners, Beam Suntory. They released the first distillery bottling in many years in 2007 and continue to invest in the brand with further releases and a new visitor center.

There are only a few original bottlings from Ardmore, the Ardmore Legacy, the 12 year old portwood finish, the Traditional and the Triple Wood.

There are a lot of independent bottlings of the Ardmore distillery. 

Ardmore 2009-2022 WhiskyNet Edition Tokaji Finish WM - Natural Color, Non-chill filtered, 48%

This bottle comes from the Independent Bottler Wilson & Morgan. "Since 1992, the independent whisky-bottler Wilson & Morgan has offered a fine selection of rare Scotch malt whiskies to connoisseurs all over the world. Wilson & Morgan selects only the best malts from 10 to 30 years of maturation, sometimes after re-casking for finishing in port, rum or Marsala casks. These malts are bottled at peak maturation and then shipped to countries all over the world, including Japan, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and of course Italy, where today, they can be found in selected outlets, Michelin Star restaurants, wine and gourmet shops."

This whisky was selected by WhiskyNet, a spirits retailer in Hungary. They also finished this whisky in Tokaji wine casks.

Tokaji wine

Tokaji or Tokay is the name of the wines from the Tokaj wine region (also Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region or Tokaj-Hegyalja) in Hungary. This region is noted for its sweet wines made from grapes affected by noble rot, a style of wine which has a long history in this region. The "nectar" coming from the grapes of Tokaj is also mentioned in the national anthem of Hungary.

Six grape varieties are officially approved for Tokaji wine production:

• Furmint
• Hárslevelű
• Yellow Muscat (Hungarian: Sárgamuskotály)
• Zéta (previously called Oremus – a cross of Furmint and Bouvier grapes)
• Kövérszőlő
• Kabar (a cross of Hárslevelű and Bouvier grapes)

Distilled: 16/12/2009
Bottled: 02/11/2022

Cask types: Refill Barrel (probably bourbon) and 1st Fill Patricius Tokaji Wine Finish for 22 months
Outturn 254 bottles, my bottle: 146

A recommended bottle for those who like Ardmore. 

Nose: Honey, mint leaves, vanilla. Highland style earthy notes, ash, peat. Cereal aromas. The character of Ardmore is beautifully displayed in this whisky.

Taste: Pear, green apple. Sweet honey, leather notes, strong earthy peat, mineral notes, a little salt. Pleasantly spicy. peppery. At the end peach and grapes appear with vanilla and a subtle hint of oak.

Finish: Long, sweet and at the same time earthy, dry, peaty.

Overall this is a very nice whisky. Sometimes Tokaji can give a very funky mushroom-y taste to the whiskies that they finish in a cask that held this wine. This one had none. This one had beautiful honey and grape notes. This was a great cask. I think it turned out well, finally the bitter aftertaste did not come from the Tokaji barrel. Thanks Whiskynet! 87 / 100

MSWD Càrn Mòr Ardmore 2013-2021 Islay Cask finish - Natural Color, Non-chill filtered, 47.5%

"Morrison Scotch Whisky distillers, based in Aberargie, Perthshire, produces some of the finest independent whisky and whisky liqueur bottlings available on the market today."

MSWD always present their whiskeis at 47.5% with and age statement, non-chill filtered and natural color. Basically how a whisky enthusiast wants it. Well, the ABV. could be a bit higher.

This whisky is aged for 7 years in an Islay Quarter Cask which is probably coming from the Laphroaig distillery.

Nose: Raw youngster. But in a good way. Quite smoky, peaty. Ardmore and Islay casks are a good combination. (The 21-year-old is also like that, it is very delicious.) If everything is true, this bottling rested in Laphroaig Quarter Casks. With notes of vanilla and malt. At the end, a little fruitiness appears in the form of pears and green apples.

Taste: Ash and earthy peat, salt. Peppery, raw, little oakiness. Together, these make the distillate quite spicy. Grilled apples and pears. Vanilla candy. Dry.

Finish: It's a long finish for the age it has. Smoky, dry. Pleasant.

Overall, I like this whisky. 81 / 100 It shows the DNA of Ardmore very well. I'm not saying it's recommended because I think it takes a certain level of fanaticism to like it. I think Ardmore is the typical "love it or hate it". It falls into the first category for me, when I sip this I like to imagine that I'm sitting on a large stone by the beach in the north of Scotland, the sun is setting, the campfire is crackling and the salty breeze is blowing my hair. Sláinte.

Some pictures in this article are not owned by me, I tagged their owner and I attached a link of their site. All other pictures that have my logo on them are TAKEN AND OWNED BY ME.

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Check out the points on all the whiskies I've rated and ranked head-to-head over HERE.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. To many more. Sláinte.