Ardmore
Distillery Bottlings
Ardmore is a surprisingly large Victorian era distillery given that it’s nestled in the rather picturesque rural village of Kennethmont (population roughly 470). It was constructed by Adam Teacher (son of William Teacher) in 1898 to produce malt for their rather well known blend – Teacher’s Highland Cream – and indeed, nowadays, much of the 5.5 MLPA from Ardmore’s eight stills ends up being used exactly the same way. Nevertheless, Ardmore has been developing its reputation for single malts since 2007’s introduction of Ardmore Traditional Cask. Towards the latter part of 2017 a new limited edition Ardmore was released, one which to my mind signals that great things lie ahead for this distillery – Ardmore Vintage 1996 20 year old.
Independent Bottlings
James MacArthur
In 1994, James MacArthur released a series of 45 whiskies under branded ‘In celebration of 500 years of Scotch Whisky 1494 – 1994 (1494 being the earliest recorded mention of whisky in the Exchequer Rolls of King James IV). The series consisted of 10 full sized (70cl) bottlings, and 35 (50cl) miniatures from an extensive variety of both distilleries and vintage years. Three whiskies from Ardmore were included in the series – one from 1976, 77 and 78. The 78 entry bears no age statement, though given the bottling year, one could posit that it should be between 15 and 16 years of age. It’s bottled at 56.2% ABV.
SMWS
This Ardmore spent 9 years in ex-bourbon before being re-racked in a 2nd fill heavily charred barrel. Lightly Peated profile.
SMWS seems to have a near endless supply of Ardmore these days – I’m not complaining, it’s usually rather tasty. This one was matured for 11 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead before being moved to 2nd fill hogshead with a heavy toast and medium char for a final year of maturation. Peated profile.