Whisky : Ardnamurchan AD/04:21 Paul Launois

Country/Region : Scotland/Highland

ABV : 57.6%

Cask : First Fill Bourbon, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger Barrique Finish 9 mo.

Nose : Herbal, salty, and earthy. Immediate herbal punch with mint, basil, oregano, along with fenugreek and fennel root. Background notes of graham crackers, unripened fruits, and root vegetables. Slightly salty and sweet with tidal marshes, honey, and rotting oak.

Palate : Medium-bodied with sharp herbal notes along with honey, salt, and vanilla. Bunches of herbs popped right away with tarragon, mint, marjoram, basil, and oregano before slightly sweet herbal roasted root vegetables; carrots, parsnips, and potatoes came to mind. Butter, honey, and arugula sprouts (or clovers) appeared at the end with hints of tidal marshes and cured vanilla beans.

Finish : Lingering earth and vanilla.

Score : 3

Mental Image : Cottage Garden Dinner

Notes : This was pretty weird.

I was excited to try this after seeing the first SMWS release from Ardnamurchan, and I thought my sample of this would make for a great introduction and give me some idea of what to expect from the distillery. It turns out this was pretty wild— unpeated and finished in a champagne cask, and definitely, nothing like the heavily peated oloroso matured cask SMWS bottled.

This cask was incredibly herbal, which was not bad, but the honey and saltwater marsh notes were particularly odd. It reminded me a lot of the Sheep Dung smoked single malt produced by Iceland’s Flokì. While I understand some casks of Flokì can be pretty nice, my bottle was wild— not pleasant to drink, though fun to share with friends. Some of the root vegetables, earth, and herbal notes on this reminded me of that Icelandic single malt. The Ardnamurchan never entirely became “plastic wrapped microwaved carrot” weird, but this was not something I would ever pull off the shelf to drink.

Overall, I am still excited to try the heavily peated Ardnamurchan, but this did not do it for me. Perhaps this helped me reset my expectations— it is easy to get carried away with the FOMO and hype across whisky social media and advertising.

Image Credit: Whiskybase