Ardnamurchan AD/

what?

Average, good easy sip, but not exceptional.

https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2024/09/12/plastic-oh-no-band-ardnamurchan/ N: Similar to the hand-fill if less floral-sweet [though we’ve pansies], less vanilla, more on coins, pebbles, a light [crop] farminess, saline vegetal qualities, citrusy Iced Gems, floral perfume, sweet vinegary [pub] whelks… and a hundred other suggestions. T: By far the lowest abv of today’s six though this one is anything but lacking in that department. To taste, there’s the Ardnamurchan I know [and love], that exquisite salty citrus sour-sweet pinch on the palate, a toasted peaty putty-like/chalky/sandy almost muddy dry funk development,… F: ,… the phenolic barley firm straw qualities released thereafter, moderately toasted with a surprising sugary sweetness at the tail despite some green-waxy allium bitterness, citrus sour, and further suggestions aplenty. C: This release is a great marker for Ardnamurchan’s evolution thus far, and a complete article in its own right. You can imagine the umami that will surely emerge from older [cellar-aged] bottles [way] down the line..

Simply a very tasty and solid core range whisky.

Nice nose. Bread, pineapple, cashews. Nice on the palate, get the funk on this one, bright and impactful. Good, but likely young. New make a bit eager and prominent on the nose too

Buy again? Yes Recommend? Yes Drink if offerd? Yes Liked by me who is not keen on smoke/peat

https://whiskylovingpianist.wordpress.com/2023/04/13/dave-broom-sense-of-place-whisky-tasting-book-launch-signing/ Moving further down the West coast, we reach Ardnamurchan – a distillery very much focused on a sense of place. Indeed, the size of Ardnamurchan’s pot stills was dictated by the size of the winding roads of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. The emergence of the distillery has meant the local primary school and doctor’s surgery remain open. These are the palpable effects of new distilleries popping up for the community by the community. These new distilleries provide far more for the locale than simply the whiskies they are producing. N: Initially dense, farmy/funky/pleasing filth, I find this consolidated malt with its sweaty botanical and perfectly perfumed phenols more assured [less contrived] than the [also commendable] Rassay. T: Glides through, balanced and assured whilst maintaining a home-made-like style. Alex, the master distiller wanted to make a ‘West Coast’ whisky style – part Ben Nevis, part Springbank/Glen Scotia,… and he’s nailing it. F: Seemless transition with offering after offering of detail. C: If you were to keep just one distillery that was borne in the 21st century, Ardnaumurchan would be right up there for consideration, and, their whisky is only getting better and better.

No need to analyse this whisky. Very good, reasonably priced, easy drinking...throw the cork away kind of bottle. I like it a lot!

I returned to edit my review. I clearly remember thinking it needed a bit more sweetness to balance it out. Well, either the whisky opened up beautifully, or my palate really warmed up to it, because I absolutely changed my mind, the sweet is there, this is a wonderful dram and I am absolutely getting a replacement... amazing for the price.

Re taste with notes

AD/02.24:01 Overall, I enjoyed this whisky. It has a slightly aggressive taste, which I think is due to its youth and alcohol content. Otherwise, it's quite herbal, like a herbal juice made from green and dried grasses of nature. I should also add that you shouldn't expect much sweetness. For me, it's a young, robust, and pleasant whisky that I can enjoy.

Coastal saltiness with gentle highland peat emerge initially on the nose, with nutty notes lingering in the background. Sweeter notes (boiled fruit travel sweets) emerge with time and a drop of water. Lovely stuff. Roasted coffee dominates the palate, with only a touch of something metallic hinting at the relative youth of the spirit. Medium-length, salty and woody finish.

Well, if this is the bottom, then let the rest of the Ardnamurchans come. This is just a very good whisky, no off notes at all and that for a fairly young whisky.

One of my all-time go-to drams, probably the best value-for-money whisky out there. It’s peated but not overly so, with a great balance between freshness and sweetness. One thing I have noticed, this whisky doesn’t really benefit from bottle aging or oxidation. After several months, it loses some of its freshness.

Aroma: smokiness, minerality, candy and bitterness of wormwood, fallen leaves Taste: wet wood, pepperiness, notes of wormwood with its bitterness Aftertaste: soft, long Balance: well balanced, pleasant, strong midrange Water transforms! 22.5; 21; 22; 20.5

A truly positive surprise. Beautifully bright and fruity on the nose, with a hint of smoke and vanilla in the background. The taste of the smoke is more pronounced, but not comparable to an Islay smoke. For a young whisky, that's quite a statement, one that makes you look forward to the future. Adelphi is doing many things right here. Edit February 2026: The bottle is now empty. It delighted both me and my guests. It's almost unbelievable what such a young whisky delivers on the palate. Adelphi gets almost everything right. The whisky never becomes boring and, the longer it's open, reveals a tropical fruitiness that I hadn't expected given its age. I'm increasing my rating from 86 to 87 points. And I'll buy another Ardamurchan. I really want more.

Harsh youthfulness comes through in peppery notes, water tones it down to bring out more sweetness, vanilla, oak malt, salty sea brine slight peppermint and again peppery finish. A bit too young for me, prefer the 10 year old in comparison.

Nose is quite OK, but taste and aftertaste not even close to expected flavors. Aftertaste has a kind of earthiness and mushroom aspect that is off putting. There is a bit of honey and cream but doesn't evolve. Kind of generic.

The influence of Bourbon is found on the nose, vanilla cream and lemon pulp, very ripe white fruits, a trace of salt, it is slightly pastry, and behind, mineral. Ethereal smoke. Liquid honey, a pinch of cinnamon, almond paste. On the palate, the fruits are more present, Granny Smith apples, pears and peaches, amber, royal jelly, very discreet spices. Very good finish, cola, blond tobacco, thick leather, figs and dried bananas, woody and quite long. Toasted hazelnuts. It is clearly dominated by Bourbon, with a little salty and mineral touch very well brought. https://ilikesky2020.blogspot.com/2024/10/ardnamurchan-ad.html

84- The Cask Strength was a weird one: the first pour was great (87 points), but after that it went downstream all the way to 81 points, so I put it aside for a later time (months, years, who knows?). This one is the opposite, it is slowly growing on me, but just as a standard. One thing I cannot take away from Ardnamurchan: there is a clear and unique character coming through from the 2 I've tried.

The scent is mildly peated, pine and light smoke, full of dried pineapple and raisins with a good load of vanilla. A full, oily mouthfeel with bright fruity flavours and peppery peat, followed by a free short finish that starts with black pepper and slightly bitter oak but quickly moves into caramel, apples and light mint A very pleasant introduction to Ardnamurchan that leaves you wanting more!

06/05/2025 - 50 ml After revealing the label, I noticed that it says it has sherry, so I tested it with a few more drops of water and it tasted like strawberry jam that had been burned on the wood stove. It's nice, although the alcohol is a bit heavy.

"More awesomeness here from Ardnamurchan! You might be wondering what happened with the name on this one, did the folks at Ardnamurchan forget to add all the usual numbers to the end? Perhaps we got distracted mid-sentence by a colourful bird flying past, or a robot vacuum cleaner buzzing around our feet? The answer is simple, this is no mistake! Going forward, Ardnamurchan's AD/ bottlings will no longer have all those confusing digits. The whisky remains unchanged though, following its traditional combination of 50% peated and 50% unpeated malt, matured in a combination of 65% bourbon and 35% sherry casks." - by Master of Malt We have developed an award-winning range of single malt whiskies from spirit maturing in our warehouses. Not only do we use a traditional mix of American and European oak, ex-sherry casks and American oak ex-bourbon casks but we also enjoy having fun with other types of oak casks that have previously held anything from white wine to mezcal, sauternes to madeira. Our core expression AD/ sits alongside a range of limited releases and single cask bottlings, all of which benefit from the overall flavour profile that you would expect from our remote spot on the wild Atlantic coastline: gentle peat smoke, rich oily honey and dark fruit palate, chilli pepper, sea salt and a little more smoke in the finish. We believe that the rugged west coast air gives our whisky a certain element that cannot be replicated elsewhere. All our whiskies are un-chill filtered and of natural colour. - by Ardnamurchan Overall this is a great core range offering. If you like lighlty peated spirits like Ardmore or Ben Nevis perhaps Benromach, you will like this too. It has enough complexity and flavours for all scotch drinkers. Great price / value ration also. 87 / 100

Overall this is a great core range offering. If you like lighlty peated spirits like Ardmore, you will like this too. It has enough complexity and flavours for all scotch drinkers. 85 / 100

Excellent whisky! Fresh, vibrant, developing and interesting. Very high quality. Price is a little steep but still in check.

Ardnamurchan AD/ (Core Release), 46.8%, SMSW. 30ml sample at home, Feb 2025. Nice pale yellow colour. Aroma - charred pineapple, dried musty apple, slightly ‘milky’ or buttery oak, polished steel. Open with a moderate intensity. Nice enough but not a stand-out aroma. Body is moderately oily. This is the area where Ardnamurchan impresses me most. Most of their releases have a really great weight in the mouth. Taste is bright and fruity up-front, becoming rusted and bitter in the middle, then the peppery peatiness and char. A little empty in the finish. It has all that bitterness up front and then once that subsides the dram falls a little flat. The first few sips felt soft and easy with gentle fruit flavours. Then over time it becomes increasingly punchy and bitter – grapefruit concentrate, violet and sandalwood perfume. Doesn’t seem young, despite the fact that it is, but it does come across as a little bit over-oaked despite its youth. I hope they’ve not started using Quarters or Octaves, which is normally an error in my book. 3.35/80

Still too young for me. Up and down, dram to dram, with the best pours at first crack and at the heel of the bottle. In the Clynelish school, with dry dusty wood and minerals, but less on pears and more on boozy fermentary white wines. An alluring scent of chocolate mint (the herb not the candy) comes and goes, along with the vanilla, the dusty wood, the minerality, the light peat, with a somewhat unintegrated alcohol note.

Ardnamurchan AD/ 09.24.03 *Age statement: unstated, but the QR-code links to a cask breakdown that says the spirit is composed of whiskies from 2017-18 making it about 5 to 6 years old. *Alcohol percentage at least 46%: yes, 46.8%. *Amount of filtration: stated on the front of the bottle as non-chillfiltered. *Use of caramel coloring {E150a}: stated on the front of the bottle as uncolored. (3 or 4 out of 4, regarding craft/integrity presentation and communication). Without water Nose/olfaction: salty breeze, but there is also some manure, like a bank in the summer that has sheep grazing on it, fruity, think banana skins and plums. Palate/gustation: very coastal, dark chocolate, fizzy lemon, the questionable off-note on the nose is not present on the palate. Finish/coda: quite complex, although not very loud, there is a mineralic taste and some spice, but it is played softly. With water Nose/olfaction: less sharp, general improvement. Palate/gustation: less tart and more smoke. Finish/coda: no difference. Ardnamurchan is another cult distillery in the making, everyone who tastes this will know that they have something special running from their stills and that their cask management is superb, which comes easy when your team has successfully ran an independent bottler for decades and decades. Even though this is young, it tastes more complex than many teenage whiskies, suggesting that the quality truly is top notch, because there is also nothing that masks the youthfulness. From the 55 casks that went into this small batch of 24000 bottles only three were sherried, and 27 were unpeated, meaning that they didn’t lean excessively into the phenolic liquids to provide flavor. Stuff to be excited about and which most definitely shall create loyalty.