I’ve been a little more absent than usual on social media over the past month and here on my website even more so. It was time for a break, a well-deserved vacation from it all. The past year I just kept going on with all kinds of things and that resulted in an extremely busy year without taking any time off. But these few weeks off from work, studying, blogging and way less time on Instagram have done me good and so we can start the year fresh again!
Anyway, let’s get the week off to a good start with a bit of an overdue review of the Ardnamurchan AD/09.20:01, which is the first-ever single malt released by this young distillery from Adelphi. And it was one I have been waiting for. However, they made us wait a little longer than most distilleries because it’s a few years older than the required three years to be called whisky. A good thing, I mean when you can why not, and also the price was really good (I think I paid just above €50 for it). So it’s needless to say that this bottle is already sold out but I’m sure you will certainly find a number of them at auctions for a ‘slightly’ different price.
This Ardnamurchan is a marriage of both peated and unpeated whisky and has matured in 65% bourbon and 35% sherry casks (PX & Oloroso). Bottled at 46.8% ABV.
Ardnamurchan AD/09.20:01 tasting notes:
Nose: a whiff of peat and pears at first. Warm apple pie and caramel fudge. Red fruits, such as red berries and raspberries. Strawberries too, but more like a strawberry chewing gum. Honey and apple juice. It’s also grassy at some points, but more hay-like.
Taste: acacia honey and plenty of it. A hint of peat. Vanilla and caramel fudge, but also milk chocolate. Pears. Somewhat waxy and a hint of salt. Apple juice. Followed by white pepper.
Finish: short and a little bit dry. A metallic note, white pepper and apple juice again.
A lovely first single malt from Ardnamurchan. Especially the nose is great as it changes all rather quickly and I’m picking up new notes by every smell. The palate is somewhat less complex compared to the nose, but nevertheless still quite tasty. The finish, however, stays a bit behind as it is quite short. But all in all a very enjoyable first single malt from Ardnamurchan.
Good to hear that more people have opened up this first release! It’s crazy these days that even with an release of 15978 bottles, it was sold out really fast and flipped in a moment…
I like your tasting notes and I’ve got some similar thoughts and notes on this. I was quite surprised about the metallic note on the finish… it’s a bit of a “off-note” especially comparing to the nose.
Slainte
Ha, you had the metallic note as well! Yes, it’s definitely good to see these bottles open. I agree on that. But it would be a waste if they stay closed. A distillery works hard for their first release, well actually any release, so it would be a real shame if no one would drink it.