Whisky: Ardmore 10 Year SMWS 66.76 “Guilty pleasure”

Country/Region: Scotland/Highland

ABV: 61%

Cask: First Fill White Wine Hogshead

Age: 10 Year (Distilled 5 Oct. 2004)

Nose: Roasted meat and herbs, sizzling fat, a hint of rubber and wet leather, farm yard funk, charred meat, rosemary, mossy stones.

Palate: Full-bodied and bold, dirty, rubbery funk, roasted meat and wrought iron, earthiness lingers at the end, farm yard animals and burning pine wood, very savory with sweet burned rubber and tar.

Finish: Long and lingering charred herbs and meat.

Score: 7

Mental Image: “Dirty,” (2002) Christina Aguilera

Narrative & Notes: The aroma was dirty with dueling images of herb-crusted prime rib and a melted plastic kitchen utensil. Notes of roasted meat and herbs, especially rosemary, combined with sizzling fat to produce a delicious meatiness. There was a definite funk that varied from rubber boots to farm yard to mossy old stone bird bath. The profile was rich, bold, and full-bodied with a dirty rubbery funk upfront that only gradually revealed roasted meats and wrought iron baking in the sun. A savory earthiness, almost a mushroomy umami, lingered at the end with farmyard animals and burning pine. The finish was long with charred herbs and meat.

The funk on this was intense and delicious, though I suspect some might find it disgusting. It varied between manure-farmyard and melted plastic or rubber boots. Rubber is not always a pleasant note to find in whisky, but I thought it harmonized in a strangely attractive manner with the meatier side of the profile. It was odd to come across such a cask-driven funk that simply worked wonderfully.

Overall, sure to be divisive, I thought this white wine Ardmore was fantastic, and I would love to find more like it.