Ardnamurchan 6 Years Old 2019 Cask Series 025 (North Star)

Bottled by North Star Spirits in 2025 as Cask Series 025, this is a 6 Years Old Ardnamurchan from 2019 distilled spirit at 52.7% ABV. The expression was matured in Oloroso sherry and bottled for the European market as part of the numbered Cask Series flagship line.

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 Oloroso sherry cask and matured on site at Glenbeg in dunnage warehousing for six years.

Oloroso sherry maturation drives the spirit through rancio chemistry, where slow polyphenol and aldehyde oxidation during the sherry's prior cask life generates the dried fruit, leathery and nutty register characteristic of long sherry contact. Maillard reaction products from hemicellulose oak sugars add chocolate and toasted depth. The 52.7% bottling strength sits below the typical cask strength range, suggesting either a more evaporative cask environment or a softer integration choice from the bottler. 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.