Ardmore 16 Year Old 2005 Cask #900124 (Brave New Spirits)

A 16 year old single cask Ardmore released by Brave New Spirits in 2022 under The Yellow Edition, distilled in 2005 and bottled at 60.9% natural strength. Brave New Spirits operates as one of the newer Scottish indie outfits, established in the late 2010s with a focus on carefully selected single casks across both well known and obscure distilleries. The 2005 vintage falls in the fifth year of the steam era at Kennethmont, with the 60.9% outturn strength indicating a tightly sealed cask with low evaporative loss. 282 bottles for the European market.

Filled at 63.5% into a single ex Bourbon refill American oak cask in 2005, the spirit matured in dunnage at Kennethmont through the Fortune Brands and Beam Global ownership periods. Sixteen years brought the strength only marginally below fill, holding at 60.9% with no chill filtration applied.

Refill Bourbon at high outturn strength reads with a tight oak frame. Cis whisky lactone gives soft coconut and pine, vanillin from oak lignin shows as light custard. Steam era distillate lacks the coal era Maillard register, leaving cleaner apple and pear esters from the Kerry yeast component prominently at the centre. The 12 to 14 ppm peat phenols read as heather smoke, dry leaf and earthy phenolic at moderate integrated intensity rather than dominant smoke.