Ardmore 9 Year Old 2009 Cask #2642D (Whiskybroker)

A 9 year old single cask Ardmore released by Whiskybroker in 2018, distilled in 2009 and bottled at 48.7% natural strength after a Pedro Ximenez finish. Whiskybroker is the trading and bottling operation run by Martin Armstrong from Stranraer, founded in 2010 with a focus on selling single casks to bottlers, retailers and private buyers at fair prices, with their own bottled releases drawing on the same inventory. Cask #2642D sits in the same 2009 cluster as the #2594 to #2618 range traceable across multiple European bottlers. 74 bottles for the Belgian market. The 2009 vintage falls in the early Beam Global ownership period at Kennethmont.

Filled at 63.5% into ex Bourbon refill American oak in 2009, the spirit matured at Kennethmont under the post 2001 steam heating regime before transfer into a Pedro Ximenez seasoned cask for the latter stages. Nine years brought the strength to 48.7% just below the chill filtration threshold, with no chill filtration applied at bottling.

Pedro Ximenez at this maturity drives concentrated residual sugars, dried fig and raisin character from the dried grape sherry style. The syrupy sweet base is balanced by furfural from oxidative wood reading as walnut. Steam era distillate underneath shows apple and pear esters from the Kerry yeast component, with the 12 to 14 ppm peat phenols reading as heather smoke, dry leaf and earthy phenolic at integrated intensity. A sweet smoky finish closes the profile.