Ardmore 20 Year Old 1998 (The Whisky Agency)

A 20 year old single cask Ardmore released by The Whisky Agency in 2018, distilled in 1998 and bottled at 51.7% natural strength. Carsten Ehrlich's Hamburg operation has built one of the most respected German indie reputations of the 2000s and 2010s, with Ardmore appearing across multiple Whisky Agency ranges including Landscapes and Liquid Library as well as standalone single cask releases like this one. 1998 falls inside the late Allied Distillers period. Bottled for the Italian market.

Distilled in 1998 at the standard Ardmore peat level of 12 to 14 ppm phenol, the spirit was filled at 63.5% into a single ex Bourbon refill American oak cask and matured in dunnage at Kennethmont. The wash stills operated on direct coal firing throughout the distillation, with the 54 to 55 hour fermentation on Mauri and Kerry yeast running at standard distillery spec. Twenty years brought the strength to 51.7%, with no chill filtration applied at bottling.

Refill Bourbon at this maturity gives a quiet oak frame. Cis whisky lactone reads as soft coconut and pine, vanillin from oak lignin shows as light custard. Coal era furfurals from direct flame distillation carry through as toasted oat and brown sugar. Apple and pear esters from the Kerry yeast component sit at the centre, with inland peat reading as heather smoke, dry leaf and earthy phenolic at integrated moderate intensity.