Ardmore 14 Year Old 2000 Cask #245 (Adelphi)

A 14 year old single cask Ardmore released by Adelphi Selection in 2014, distilled in 2000 and bottled at 55.6% natural strength. Adelphi, operated from Charlestown of Aberlour, has built one of the longest standing indie Ardmore programmes among contemporary bottlers, with regular single cask outings dating back to the late 1990s. The 2000 vintage falls in the final year of direct coal firing of the wash stills. 157 bottles for the Netherlands market.

Filled at 63.5% into a single ex Bourbon refill American oak cask in 2000, the spirit matured in dunnage at Kennethmont through both the late Allied Distillers and the early Fortune Brands ownership periods. Fourteen years brought the strength to 55.6%, with no chill filtration applied at bottling.

Refill Bourbon at this age frames distillery character cleanly. Cis whisky lactone gives soft coconut and pine, vanillin from oak lignin builds a baked custard register. Coal era furfurals from direct flame distillation read as toasted oat and brown sugar at this maturity. Apple and pear esters from the Kerry yeast component sit prominently at the centre, with inland peat reading as heather smoke, dry leaf and an earthy phenolic note at moderate integrated intensity rather than dominant smoke. A soft lactic creamy edge closes the finish.