Ardmore 15 Year Old 2001 Cask #801582 (The Vintage Malt Whisky Co)

A 15 year old single cask Ardmore released by The Vintage Malt Whisky Co under the Cooper's Choice range, distilled in 2001 and bottled in 2016 at 51.5% natural strength. Cask #801582 sits in the same VMWC warehouse holding as sister cask #1581 (released as a 16 year old the following year), both drawn from the same 2001 fill cluster. The vintage falls in the transition year at Kennethmont, with the wash stills converting from direct coal firing to steam in early 2001, ending the heating regime that had defined every Ardmore distillation since 1898. 325 bottles for the European market.

Filled at 63.5% into a single ex Bourbon refill American oak cask in 2001, the spirit matured in dunnage at Kennethmont. Fifteen years brought the strength to 51.5%, with no chill filtration applied at bottling. The peat load at 12 to 14 ppm phenol and the 54 to 55 hour fermentation on Mauri and Kerry yeast both stayed at standard distillery spec.

Refill Bourbon at this age frames distillery character cleanly. Cis whisky lactone gives soft coconut and pine, vanillin from oak lignin shows as light custard, syringaldehyde adds a hint of clove. Apple and pear esters from the Kerry yeast component sit prominently, with inland peat reading as heather smoke and earthy phenolic at integrated moderate intensity. The 2001 transition position means partial or full absence of direct flame Maillard products depending on cask fill date.