Ardlair seems to be more of a thing, the last couple of years. It’s a second brand from Ardmore distillery in which they do not peat their barley before distilling. So unpeated Ardmore, instead of the regular stuff.
This version at 9 years old was finished in a St. Emilion wine cask, from the Bordeaux region of France. I’m curious to see where this goes, since wine casks (as said quite a few times before) can be quite sketchy.
Sniff:
This must not have been the most active cask, since the nose gives away a LOT of spirit. Fresh alcohol with hints of copper and fruit. Virtually no woody notes to be found. New make spirit is usually rather sweet, and therefore this one is as well.
Sip:
The palate is a lot sharper than you’d expect from a 50% dram. The wine cask comes through a little bit on the tongue, with tannic hints of grapes and some rancio. There is quite some dryness, and it’s far less spiritiy than the nose was.
Swallow:
The finish shows more cask influence than the palate did. So, apparently the woody notes builds. It’s rather long with a hint of copper as well.
The Ardmore I’m used to is not like this. Even if you disregard the lack of peat. I guess the cask wasn’t overly active and that has given the spirit far less impact that I’d expect from an already young nine years old. This, I think, is one of those rather sketchy wine casks. Not a bad dram, but not my cup of tea either.
83/100
Malt Fascination 