Ardmore 8 Year Old 2008 Cask #823 (The Vintage Malt Whisky Co)

An 8 year old single cask Ardmore released by The Vintage Malt Whisky Co in 2017 under The Cooper's Choice range, distilled in 2008 and bottled at 46% with a port finish. The Vintage Malt Whisky Co is a Glasgow based independent bottler founded in 1992, with The Cooper's Choice operating as their flagship single cask single malt line since the late 1990s. The 2008 vintage falls in the early Beam Global ownership period at Kennethmont with steam heating on the wash stills since 2001. 420 bottles for the German market from cask #823.

Filled at 63.5% into an ex Bourbon refill cask in 2008, the spirit matured at Kennethmont under the post 2001 steam heating regime before a Port wood finish was applied in the latter stages. Eight years brought the strength to 46%, with bottling at standard reduced strength rather than cask strength.

Port wood finishing at this maturity contributes residual wine sugars, anthocyanin pigments and additional tannic structure on top of the Bourbon base. The pigmented phenols read as red berry, plum skin and a faint resinous edge, with the original lactone and vanillin frame from American oak still legible underneath. Steam era distillate at the centre shows apple and pear esters from the Kerry yeast component, and the 12 to 14 ppm peat phenols read as heather smoke, dry leaf and earthy phenolic at moderate integrated intensity. A nutty chocolate finish from oxidative wood compounds closes the profile.