Ardmore 20 Year Old 1998 Cask #750789 (Elixir Distillers)

A 20 year old single cask Ardmore released by Elixir Distillers in 2019 under The Whisky Trail banner, distilled in 1998 and bottled at 51.4% natural strength. Cask #750789 sits in the same 750xxx warehouse fill series as Elixir's own #750764 (SMOS) and #750768 (SMOS) plus A.D. Rattray's #750802, all four drawn from the same 1998 Ardmore run. The Whisky Trail is one of Elixir's older bottling lines, with established distribution across the European market. Bottled for the Netherlands.

Distilled in 1998 from peated Aberdeenshire malt at the 12 to 14 ppm phenol level, the spirit was filled at 63.5% into a single ex Bourbon refill American oak cask and matured in dunnage at Kennethmont. The wash stills operated on direct coal firing throughout the distillation, the heating regime that defined every Ardmore vintage between 1898 and early 2001. Twenty years brought the strength to 51.4%, with no chill filtration applied at bottling.

Refill Bourbon at this maturity gives a quiet oak frame around distillery character. Cis whisky lactone reads as soft coconut and pine, vanillin from oak lignin shows as light custard. Coal era furfurals from direct flame distillation carry through as toasted oat and brown sugar. Apple and pear esters from the Kerry yeast component sit at the centre, with inland peat reading as heather smoke, dry leaf and earthy phenolic at integrated moderate intensity.