Ardnamurchan 7 Years Old (Chorlton Whisky)

Bottled by Chorlton Whisky as a 7 Years Old Ardnamurchan at 61% ABV from ex Bourbon American oak maturation, this expression was bottled without dilution for Italy. Chorlton Whisky is a small Manchester based independent bottler with a minimalist label design.

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. The 61% cask strength reflects modest evaporation across seven years of dunnage maturation, preserving the higher esters from long fermentation alongside the developed ex Bourbon profile. 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.