Ardmore 24 Year Old 1996 Cask #3515 Oloroso (Gordon & MacPhail)

A 24 year old single cask Ardmore released by Gordon & MacPhail in 2021 under the Connoisseurs Choice Cask Strength banner, distilled in 1996 and matured exclusively in a single Oloroso sherry cask. The vintage sits inside the Allied Distillers period when nearly all Ardmore production was channelled into Teacher's Highland Cream, with G&M's long warehouse contract producing the bulk of aged single malt outturn. 219 bottles for the Scottish market, a deliberately tight home market allocation for what would otherwise have gone into European retail.

Filled at 63.5% into a single Oloroso seasoned cask in 1996, the spirit matured in dunnage at Kennethmont. The wash stills operated on direct coal firing through 1996, with the 12 to 14 ppm peat phenol load and the 54 to 55 hour fermentation on Mauri and Kerry yeast both running at standard distillery spec. Twenty four years brought the cask to 52% naturally, with no chill filtration applied.

Long Oloroso maturation pushes sherry character deep into the spirit. Polyphenol oxidation builds rancio depth, with melanoidins from the seasoning reading as walnut, fig paste and dark caramelised fruit. Coal era furfurals from direct flame distillation amplify the dark sugar and pastry register. Inland peat phenols at 12 to 14 ppm fold into the wood derived depth as dry leaf, peat hearth and a smoked tea note. Eugenol and vanillin from the seasoned oak give clove and warm baking spice through the finish.