Ardnamurchan 6 Years Old 2017 AD/04:17 Cask 235 Poland Edition

Distilled in April 2017 as part of batch AD/04:17 and bottled in 2023 from single ex Bourbon cask 235, this is a 6 Years Old Ardnamurchan at 56.5% ABV. The expression was bottled without dilution as the Poland Edition, a sister release to cask 425 from the Polish market collaboration.

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. Six years in ex Bourbon develops the primary vanillin and oak lactone extract while the longer Maillard chemistry continues to build, giving a profile that balances cask development with preserved distillate character. 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.