Ardmore 22 Year Old 2000 Oloroso (Decadent Drinks)

A 22 year old Ardmore released by Decadent Drinks in 2022 under the Whisky Sponge banner, distilled in 2000 and bottled at 54.2% natural strength. Decadent Drinks, operated by Angus MacRaild from Fife, has been one of the most influential new indie outfits of the early 2020s, with Whisky Sponge releases routinely featuring illustrated labels and detailed maturation notes. The 541 bottle outturn suggests a full Oloroso butt fill rather than a refill or hogshead format, an unusual cask size for Ardmore that more commonly appears from smaller formats.

Distilled in 2000 from peated Aberdeenshire malt at the 12 to 14 ppm phenol level, the spirit was filled at 63.5% into Oloroso seasoned oak and matured at Kennethmont in dunnage. The 2000 vintage falls in the final year of direct coal firing of the wash stills, with the 2001 transition to steam ending an unbroken 103 year run. Twenty two years brought the strength to 54.2% 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 dried fruit. Coal era furfurals from direct flame distillation amplify the caramelisation and dark sugar register. Eugenol and vanillin from the seasoned oak give clove and warm baking spice through the finish, with inland peat phenols folded into the wood derived depth as dry leaf and peat hearth rather than dominant smoke.