Say hi to the new kids in town: young distilleries shaping the future of whisky.

Ardnamurchan AD/04. 21:03 46.8% ABV (UCF, natural colour, 65% ex-bourbon casks and 35% ex- sherry casks, 17502 bottles)

Back in late August, I wrote a (quite lengthy) post on young whiskies (‘Will young whisky save the world?’, you can find it in the archives section) giving them a round of applause for taking a step away from the beaten path – not necessarily when it comes to the actual producing and distilling part, but definitely in terms of presentation, transparency and marketing. To conclude 2021, I thought it would be neat (does one still get to say ‘neat’?) to dig a bit deeper and try the whiskies from some of the new generation of whisky distilleries that have caught the attention of the community in recent times and what the future might hold for them – and for us as well.

First up in this latest little series, is Ardnamurchan. For a number of reasons I’m quite excited about what the distillery is all about. For starters, they are really putting the concept of a ‘green’ distillery up front and central in their production methods. Working towards ‘net zero’ emission might have seem like some naïve, idealistic treehugging gimmick a decade ago, but today more than ever it’s very much a reality, and whether you like it or not, the way to go in times to come.

Second, they are embracing and exploiting today’s technological opportunities to build a relationship with the discerning customer and enthusiast (i.e.: you and I). Blockchain technology and a little QR code on every bottle will give you as much information and transparency as you could possibly hope for as a whisky enthusiast: you get the exact bottle number (95 in my case), who bottled it and when (Kelly Combe on January 19, 2021), but also which barley was used (concerto) and where it was grown. This continues all the way down to the mashing temperatures, fermentation time, the cut points of the new make, and to finish off you can download a pdf which tells you exactly which casks were used (peated, unpeated, oloroso, bourbon, PX…) and when they were filled. So despite this officially being a NAS release, I know now for a fact that the oldest whisky in this bottle dates back to 2014 (so right at the earliest days of the distillery) and the youngest whisky was put in casks in 2016. Get your geek on, why don’t ya?!

And while I’m fully aware of the fact that all of the above means absolutely bupkis if the end product – the stuff they put into bottles, is, quite frankly, shite, the fact that transparency and ecological awareness is at the very heart of what Ardnamurchan are doing, tells me it’s more than just smoke and mirrors or another marketing stunt to put the focus elsewhere than on their whisky. The level of detailed information they provide is, to me, already to a certain degree a quality indication, as it’s exactly responding to what the community has been screaming for in the past couple of years. Factual is the new romantic when it comes toi getting your marketing right. Or, as some other guy doing whisky reviews would say: they score a lot of points for the quality and integrity of their presentation.

So, without further ado, let’s put the pudding to the proof of the tasting.

On the nose it’s got this cereal – farmyard thing going on. A mixture of yeast, dough, hay and soft earthy peat (yet I didn’t pick up any smoke), and behind all that something reminding me of cabbage – but in a good way. This integrates nicely with some salty maritime notes (beach pebbles) and a white wine sweetness almost transcending into wine gums. It’s young and youthful – quite spirit driven, possibly also down to a lot of refill casks going into this bottling. A drop of water accentuates this even further, bringing out a very crisp, clean, fresh, yet also slightly funky sweet and malty maritime element. It also rounds things off in my experience, tying together what little loose ends this might have had.

On the palate, it‘s again first and foremost that bready- yeasty dough and cereal note I picked up, only now mixed in with some granulated sugary sweetness. Then a salted savoury touch of meat/beef notes kick in, delivering a medium full texture. At the same time, it’s also actually quite delicate, bringing a very soft and gentle bitter woodnote with some garden and kitchen herbal elements to the table. This remains after adding some water, making things also slightly sweeter.

The finish is medium long, with herbal/spice (salty) notes, fading out on a drying wood note.

There’s no denying that this is young, spirit driven whisky, but it is also quite versatile and layered. Between 4 and 6 years old, and with some less active casks involved (I think so anyway), much of the talking is left to the spirit. Which in this case, is by no means a bad thing as that is of very good quality. Wat it might ‘lack’ in terms of maturity (= cask impact), it makes up for with its intrinsic, no-nonsense quality. This is not, in my opinion, a beginner’s whisky. It’s not difficult or stupidly complex to enjoy, quite the contrary, but rather than trying to be a crowd pleaser, this is a whisky from a distillery doing its own thing, counting on the fact that they will get noticed and appreciated because of it. It will be interesting to see where they’ll go with things, and how they will balance out the flavour profile between the spirit and the casks. Until then, I’m more than happy and content sitting back and enjoying this one: 84/100