Cadenhead Chairman's Ardnamurchan 5 Year

Tasting Notes

Producer Tasting Note

Nose: Raspberries, strawberry conserve, smoky bacon.

Palate: Oily, BBQ coals, cocoa powder, soy sauce.

Finish: Blue cheese sauce, salty, burdock, dandelion, nettle tea.

Distillery

The following article was written by Andrew Ferguson for Celtic Life Magazine in April 2021.

When Kilchoman Distillery opened on Islay in 2005, it became the first new distillery built in Scotland in more than a decade. Over the last dozen years, no fewer than 29 new distilleries have opened. The new distilleries are mostly small and independent, setting them apart from the industry’s established players. One of the most hotly anticipated new distilleries is Ardnamurchan, which launched its first-ever single malt Scotch whisky in late 2020.

I have made the trek to Ardnamurchan at least three times since ground was broken on the site in 2013. One of the most remote distilleries in Scotland, it is a 90-minute drive from Ft. William down a long and winding road on the unspoiled and untamed Ardnamurchan peninsula. The drive is not for the faint of heart, especially if it is raining. The single-track road, barely wider than a bike path, twists, drops, and rolls with the landscape, and in a deluge, the burns wash across the road.

The Ardnamurchan Peninsula juts out of Scotland’s mainland above the island of Mull. Wild and rugged, it was a training area for Special Forces in WWII as it could easily be cut off from the rest of Scotland. The distillery was built in the hamlet of Glenbeg, perched above Glenmore Bay, with views of the Morvern Penninsula and the Isle of Mull. On a sunny day you can see the picturesque burgh of Tobermory, the capital of the Isle of Mull.

Ardnamurchan was established by Adelphi Distillery LTD, an independent bottler named for a distillery which closed in 1902. Realizing the supply of whiskies for independent bottlers was tightening up, they made the decision to open their own distillery. They selected a site on land belonging to one of their directors, which allowed them to build a green distillery, heated by locally sourced wood chips and hydro powered by the same river which supplies the distillery’s cooling water. The malted barley is sourced from the farms which surround the firm’s bottling warehouse near Dunfermline, across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh.

The distillery is modern, but takes an old school approach to making whisky, with long fermentations and a slow distillation.

In June of 2014, the first spirit trickled off the stills at Ardnamurchan. It took them a little while to get used to using the biomass boiler for heating and dial in their new made spirit. But it has, for the most part, been smooth sailing since. The distillery produces a mix of unpeated and peated (35ppm) spirit, which it matures in dunnage floor warehouse carved into the hillside above the distillery.

With more than 10,000 casks now in bond, the company recently added three new warehouses on site, which it has already started to fill. The distillery is also equipped with floor maltings, which it has yet to use. Only a handful of distilleries in Scotland still have a floor maltings in use today, as they are more labour intensive and expensive to operate than sourcing malt from commercial maltings.

Ardnamurchan has released a few teasers over the years, mainly to showcase the potential of their future whiskies while waiting for them to reach maturity. Scotch whisky must be at least three years of age before it can legally be called whisky, and most single malts are rarely released at anything less than 10 years of age. The first release of Ardnamurchan single malt, AD 09.20:01, was bottled in September of 2020, and is a marriage of peated and unpeated malts, matured in a mix of bourbon and sherry casks. Though it is just five years of age, the whisky is very balanced with a complexity and maturity found normally in older expressions - a sure sign that Ardnamurchan is on the right path.

Though more than a little off the beaten track, Ardnamurchan Distillery is well worth a visit. The distillery offers tours and has a visitor center. There is local accommodation and other things to see and do in the area. The distillery can easily be visited on a day trip from Fort William, or even by ferry from Tobermory. It has been a few years since my last visit, and I am looking forward to the next!

Independent Bottler

This text is from an article written by Andrew for Celtic Life Magazine in 2017.

As strange as it may sound, it is only in the last three to five decades that most distilleries have seen fit to bottle their own whiskies as single malts. Prior to that, the vast majority of whiskies distilled in Scotland were produced almost exclusively for blends. With few exceptions, most of the available single malts prior to the 1970s were bottled by independent bottlers like Gordon Macphail and WM Cadenhead. Distilleries like Glenfiddich, Macallan, Glenmorangie, Bowmore and Glenlivet began bottling their whiskies as single malts and exporting them globally, in the 1960s. Other distilleries would follow in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Some products - like John Dewar & Sons’ “The Last Great Malts” series - have only been launched in the last few years.

Independent bottlings are whiskies bottled by a third party and not the distillery which produced them. Not all distilleries actually bottle their whiskies as single malts and many that do, have limited ranges. Independent bottlings fill this niche in the market, generally releasing single casks and small batch single malts that can vary enormously from the distillery’s core offering. If you are a devoted single malt aficionado, chances are you’ve come across more than a few independent bottlings in your day. If you haven’t yet dipped your toes into the world of independent bottlings, then you may be missing out on some of the world’s finest whisky, and it is high time you took a look at what they have to offer.

The oldest - and one of the finest - of all the independents is WM Cadenhead’s. Established in 1842, Cadenhead’s, as they are affectionately known, is a stubbornly traditional firm, with an exceptional range of whiskies. Along with Gordon Macphail, Cadenhead’s is one of Scotland’s best independent bottlers, with a range of old whiskies that is envied by the rest of the industry. Until the last few years, Cadenhead whiskies were only available from their network of shops in the U.K. and Europe. The Small Batch line was created four years ago to satiate selected whisky specialists around the world, and to distribute the company’s aging overstock.

WM Cadenhead was acquired by J.A. Mitchell & Co. in 1972, the family-owned firm which also owns the Springbank and Glengyle distilleries. After acquiring Cadenhead’s, and its stocks of maturing whisky, Hedley Wright - J.A. Mitchell’s colourful chairman and owner - is said to have spent the next few decades wandering Scotland with his check book. Wright made frequent visits to “his friends” at various distilleries across Scotland, purchasing casks as he went. Hedley kept track of his acquisitions on a series of ledgers, releasing casks bit by bit to the team at Cadenhead’s for bottling. To this day, the firm doesn’t even know the full extent of the casks they are sitting on. However, so long as Hedley keeps the flow of rare and old whiskies coming, Cadenhead’s will continue to be one of Scotland’s most interesting independent bottlers.

Today, Cadenhead’s is headquartered in the scenic coastal town of Campbeltown on the Kintyre Peninsula, within walking distance from its sister businesses, the Springbank and Glengyle (Kilkerran) distilleries. The Cadenhead’s Shop and Whisky Tasting Room serves as a visitor center and retailer for the three brands. They offer daily tours and tastings Monday to Saturday. While Springbank Distillery may be the main draw, the Cadenhead Warehouse tour is not to be missed. Mark and or Cameron will take you into the bowels of a dark, dingy old dunnage warehouse to sample some stunning whiskies, right out of the cask.

Campbeltown is a bit of a trek, 4 hours by car from Glasgow, near the end of the Kintyre Peninsula. The town is charming, with much to see in the surrounding area, justifying at least a two-day visit. The world-famous Machrihanish Dunes Golf Course is just ten minutes away. In my opinion, Campbeltown is best seen in conjunction with the islands and Arran, Islay (and Jura) over a week-long tour. Caledonian Macbrayne, Scotland’s west coast ferry service, has a special pass for just such a route, called a Hop Scotch. But if Campbeltown is just too far to go, keep your eye open for one of the many other Cadenhead shops in Edinburgh, London, and across Europe. In Canada, Cadenhead Small Batch whiskies can be purchased from Kensington Wine Market in Calgary.

Cadenhead is celebrating its 175th Anniversary in 2017, so let’s raise a glass for their continued good spirits!