Ardnamurchan 8 Years Old 2014 AD/09:14 CK.154

Distilled in September 2014 as part of batch AD/09:14 and bottled in 2022 from single ex Bourbon cask CK.154, this is an 8 Years Old Ardnamurchan at 59.5% ABV. Bottled without dilution as an event exclusive, drawn from one of the earliest Glenbeg production batches.

Production followed Ardnamurchan's standard regime. Concerto barley was milled into a copper topped semi lauter mash tun, fermented 72 to 120 hours on a single strain distiller's yeast, then double distilled through copper pot stills with reflux boil balls to a new make of 74 to 76% ABV. Spirit was filled at 63.5% into a single ex Bourbon American oak cask and matured on site at Glenbeg in dunnage warehousing for eight years.

Ex Bourbon American oak focuses cask contribution on vanillin and the cis isomer of whisky lactone from the toasted and charred staves, with hemicellulose oak sugars driving honey and vanilla through Maillard chemistry. The cleaner American oak palette suits Ardnamurchan's lighter new make and lets fermentation derived esters carry through without sherry darkness to mask them. The high cask strength of 59.5% reflects modest evaporation loss across eight years in the cool humid dunnage warehousing at Glenbeg, preserving fermentation derived esters alongside the developed vanillin and oak lactone profile. Peated phenols (guaiacol, syringol, 4 methylguaiacol from St Fergus Highland peat at 30 to 35 ppm) from the peated portion of the split production integrate as smoke backbone.