Ardmore 12 batch #3
Highland
£72.99
23 in stock
- Bourbon cask, PX Octave
- 12 year old
- 51.3% cask strength
- only 73 Bottles
The third and final release from cask 1313, this time finished in a Pedro Ximenez octave for 1 year.
This is a brilliant marriage of sherry and peat. The PX sherry octave doesn’t dominate but it’s resolutely there, framing the powerful smoky distillate. The Ardmore character shines though with fresh, earthy peat and savoury notes resulting in a unique expression and a style that’s hard to find these days.
Nose
Earthy, meaty, bacon frazzles, leather, honey and some floral notes along with gentle spices, pine needles, and slight grassy note. Herby sausages juxtapose a sweeter, spicier sherry dimension. Liquorice, touch of yeasty dough. An instant charmer with much to explore.
Palate
Altogether more gentle than the punchy nose suggests. Lashings of warm sweet peat, pine wood chips thrown on to a barbeque to cook those herby sausages from the nose, with sweetness and spice from the PX cask.
A fresh earthiness comes through, more so with water, while the sherry notes add a familiar layer of cake mix.
The balance is perfect – the indomitable spirit remains in control throughout with the casks refining rather than defining the whisky.
Finish
Smoky and sweet, fades quickly at first and then lingers faintly for quite some time.
I’ll have another if you don’t mind!
