Ardmore 21 Year Old 2000 Cask #1695 Oloroso (Gordon & MacPhail)

A 21 year old single cask Ardmore released by Gordon & MacPhail in 2021 under the Connoisseurs Choice Cask Strength banner, distilled in 2000 and matured exclusively in a single Oloroso sherry cask. Cask #1695 sits in a tight fill pairing with sister cask #1693 (G&M Connoisseurs Choice 2023), both drawn from the same Oloroso run of 2000 Ardmore. The vintage falls in the final year of direct coal firing at Kennethmont, with the 2001 transition to steam ending a heating regime that had defined every Ardmore distillation since 1898. 237 bottles for the event market.

Filled at 63.5% into a single Oloroso seasoned cask in 2000, the spirit matured in dunnage at Kennethmont through the long pre Beam Global window. Twenty one years brought the strength to 57.1% naturally, with no chill filtration applied at bottling.

Long Oloroso maturation drives deep sherry character. Polyphenol oxidation builds rancio depth, with melanoidins from the seasoning reading as walnut, fig paste and dark caramelised fruit. Coal era Maillard products from direct flame distillation amplify the dark sugar register. Eugenol and vanillin from the seasoned oak give clove and warm baking spice. The 12 to 14 ppm peat phenols fold into the wood derived intensity as dry leaf, heather smoke and a peat hearth note that runs through the finish.