Ardnamurchan 10 Years Old 2015 Equinox & Solstice Spring (Decadent Drinks)

Bottled by Decadent Drinks in 2026 under the Equinox & Solstice Spring imprint, this is a 10 Years Old Ardnamurchan from 2015 distilled spirit at 48.5% ABV. The expression was matured in ex Bourbon casks and bottled for Europe as part of Decadent's seasonal release programme marking equinoxes and solstices.

Production followed Ardnamurchan's standard regime. Concerto barley was milled into a copper topped semi lauter mash tun, fermented 72 to 120 hours on a single strain distiller's yeast, then double distilled through copper pot stills with reflux boil balls to a new make of 74 to 76% ABV. Spirit was filled at 63.5% into a single ex Bourbon American oak cask and matured on site at Glenbeg in dunnage warehousing for ten years.

Ex Bourbon American oak focuses cask contribution on vanillin and the cis isomer of whisky lactone from the toasted and charred staves, with hemicellulose oak sugars driving honey and vanilla through Maillard chemistry. The cleaner American oak palette suits Ardnamurchan's lighter new make and lets fermentation derived esters carry through without sherry darkness to mask them. A decade develops the ex Bourbon contribution well past the primary extract phase, with extended Maillard chemistry and developed lactone register. Peated phenols (guaiacol, syringol, 4 methylguaiacol from St Fergus Highland peat at 30 to 35 ppm) from the peated portion of the split production integrate as smoke backbone.