We kick off a couple weeks of Ardmore reviews with a young release from Cadenheads that received a two year finish in a Caroni rum cask. As someone with my head stuck firmly in the malt universe, rum feels like a wild and strange parallel dimension— but even across universal plains I have heard of Caroni and been lucky enough to try a few. The Trinidad rum distillery closed in 2002, and gained its present fame and collector status in the decade after when Velier and other independent bottlers of rum, and whisky, began releasing the massive lot of casks that had been left behind.

While I do not find young Ardmore all that exciting, I do think the smoky highland malt pairs well with big casks.  The industrial and tarry qualities of Caroni seem, on paper, to be a perfect match.

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Whisky: Ardmore 10 Year (2010), Cadenhead’s Wood Range

Country/Region: Scotland/Highland

ABV: 53.3%

Cask: Caroni Rum Finish (2Y)

Age: 10 Years (Distilled 2010, Bottled 2020)

Notes: Rotting tropical fruits and cream wafted out of the glass behind an old tractor with large rubber tires, diesel fumes, and a bit of rust. Grassy sugars and fermentation led to a touch of coconut cream and zinc oxide based sunscreen on a tour of the a distillery— and this did remind me of rural cane-based rum making. Medium-bodied, the palate was surprisingly balanced and creamy with little spirited heat or pepper considering the age. The flavors were tropical with plenty of grassy crushed cane, charred cane husks, red dirt, engine grease, and fermenting sugars. Sitting under a corrugated metal roof with spots of rust and rain gave a metallic tinge to pineapple upside down cake, bruised mangos, pickled plums, and wispy smoke. The finish was medium to long with pineapple upside down cakes and wispy smoke.

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Score: 7 (84)

Mental Image: Agricole Rum Picnic

Conclusion: There was no missing the Caroni rum cask, which paired beautifully with the peated highland malt from Ardmore. The first time I poured this, I did not expect much…. young Ardmore is almost never bad, but it is unusual for them to stand out from the big, punchy, young peated malt pack. The cask gave this something special, and that was obvious from the first whiff. I was also shocked at how well-integrated and balanced the spirit was, it was wonderfully (or criminally) easy to drink with very little in the way of raw or youthful spirit poking out. Overall, this was lovely, though it left me craving Caroni rather than more Ardmore.