Ardnamurchan 6 Years Old 2016 Cask 911 (James Eadie)

Bottled by James Eadie in 2023 from single ex Bourbon cask 911, this is a 6 Years Old Ardnamurchan from 2016 distilled spirit at 61.2% ABV. Bottled at high cask strength without dilution for Europe. James Eadie is a revived Victorian era bottling house relaunched by Rupert Patrick.

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 six 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. The 61.2% cask strength reflects very modest evaporation, retaining strength close to the original fill level of 63.5% and preserving higher esters and volatile compounds that lower strength bottlings lose. 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.