SMOS Res Casks No.8 Ardlair 11 Year

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Ardlair is the name given to unpeated whisky from the Ardmore Distillery. This 2010 vintage bottling was created from 3 sherry butts, and has been bottled at 48%.

700 ml

Region:Scotland > Highland
Vintage:2010

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Producer Tasting Note

Nose: Beautifully intense notes of linseed oil which gives way tovanilla ice cream rippled with blackberry coulis. Wood spicecreates a beautiful balance with the vanilla and fruit andwarms up on the nose as spicy sandalwood.

Palate: Dark runny honey creates a luscious earthiness that gives thebackbone to this dram. Warming notes from baking spices -cinnamon, nutmeg and Madagascan vanilla combine with thehoney to give a sweet, creamy and rich flavour profile that istruly ambrosian.

Finish: As you breathe through each sip, forest floor elements beginto develop as if walking through the woods after its rained.The finish lingers and dark fruits from the nose make anappearance once again, leaving you with bright jammy notes.

Originally written by Evan for a blog post relating to KWM's 2020 Whisky Calendar.

Ardmore distillery was founded in 1898 and was purpose-built to provide whisky for Blending, as pretty much all distilleries were at the time. However with Ardmore that hasn’t changed much – even today just about all of Ardmore’s is still being used for blending, trading stock, or selling.

Only a small portion of Ardmore Single Malt Scotch lands in official bottles released by Ardmore and its parent company Beam Suntory. When it comes to profile and releases, Bowmore and Laphroaig get plenty of attention, being the Islay darlings that they are. Auchentoshan in the Lowlands gets similar treatment. Even Glen Garioch gets more releases, and that is saying something!

One of the reasons Ardmore is the heart of Teacher’s Highland Cream and also sought after by independent bottlers is that just about all of the whisky produced at the distillery is moderately peated. I have only tasted one unpeated Ardmore that I can recall. There is also a lighter peated style that the distillery makes which is sometimes dubbed Ardlair. I suspect some of the Ardmore I have tasted have been this style, which tends to amp up the sweet, creamy and ashy notes of the whisky.