I really like that there are more and more bottlings done for The Netherlands. It seems we finally have gotten our space on the global whisky map! This Ardnamurchan is one of them that came out last year. I didn’t pick one up, for the simple reason that you cannot buy everything that comes out. And believe me, I tried. According to my wife at least.

A Highlands distillery, that sort-of-recently opened on the west coast. Run by the same people behind the Adelphi brand of independent bottlings, they have started to make a great spirit. So far, almost all bottlings are very popular, even at a very young age. The oldest ones, so far, are 8 years old, so this cask must have been put aside around the beginning.

It’s the eighth bottling in the Blind Tasting Competition, so we’re going in with no information, except that it’s not an Islay dram. But with this being an unpeated Ardnamurchan, that link was difficult at best.

Sniff:
Banana, pastry cream, heaps of vanilla. A bit of American oak. Not a very big whisky.

Sip:
Quite fierce, with white pepper and dry oak. Vanilla, a certain creaminess and a bit of wax. Some honey too.

Swallow:
The finish stays quite tingly, with black pepper. After that it mellows to vanilla and cream.

I went for a Speyside one with this bottling. Mostly due to the cask forward vanilla approach. Technically that can come from anywhere, but with Speyside being the largest area in terms of distilleries, that seemed like the safest bet.

I had literally no idea what this could be, so completely random I went for a 12 year old BenRiach. Of course, that results in no points at all, but I’m getting rather used to that by now.

The whisky itself is one of the most generic Ardnamurchans I’ve had to date. Therefore I also find it one of the most uninteresting ones. Of course, the quality of the spirit is there, but it’s rather exchangeable with, let’s say, random BenRiach…

83/100

Sold out by now, but it used to go for € 121 at Best of Wines