SMWS 66.177 Gummidge vs Pugwash

Posted 01 October 2020 by Matt / In Ardmore
The Dramble reviews SMWS 66.177 Gummidge vs Pugwash

Bottle Name: 66.177 Gummidge vs Pugwash

ABV: 59.6%
Distillery: Ardmore
Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Flavour Profile: Lightly peated
Region: Highlands Age: 14

Another teenaged Ardmore. This one takes its naming inspiration from a supposedly friendly, but actually petrifying scarecrow (a no-budget, field-based, British version of Freddy Kruger) and a cartoon of a rotund, pompous pirate – as you do. But in terms of more important things - the whisky itself has been matured for 14 years in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead.

View on SMWS

Nose: Opening on felt roofing and molten tar, bacon lardons and sweet langoustines are served with chips drizzled with cider vinegar. Old ropes and wet dog fur are joined by hay barns, whilst light floor cleaner and pickled onions sit with pine resin and buttered, shredded crab meat. Water presents sea breeze and briny rock pools together with quartz-like minerality and old parchment paper.

Taste: Brighter and more chiselled. Lemon and lamp oils sit with spent fire hearths, whilst bung cloth and smoked autumn leaf mulch are joined by air-dried meats and prawn bisque. The mid-palate offers livening grapefruit segments together with controlled smoke that’s part maritime and part inland. Dilution expresses greater citric qualities with lemon cubes and peels sitting with a combination of sugar dusting and axle grease.

Finish: Medium with preserved lemons and dry driftwood.

A rather excellent combination of land and sea that makes good on the children’s TV show themed bottle name. The two sides offer both harmony and just enough contrariness to provide for some thought-provoking tension. But above all, this is simply very tasty whisky with more than enough on offer for lovers of the Highland peated style to get stuck in to. Recommended (and notably also recommended in conjunction with 80.16 in this month’s twin-pack offering).

Score: 87/100


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