Ardnamurchan 7 Years Old 2015 (Whisky Sponge)

Bottled by Decadent Drinks under the Whisky Sponge label in 2022 from 2015 distilled spirit, this is a 7 Years Old Ardnamurchan at 57.1% ABV from ex Bourbon maturation. The expression was bottled for the European market from the distillery's second year by the irreverent Whisky Sponge imprint.

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 seven 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. At seven years the ex Bourbon contribution is well developed, with vanillin, oak lactones and Maillard reaction products from hemicellulose oak sugars giving an integrated honey and toasted 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.