Ardnamurchan AD/04.21:03 Release 3

Released in April 2021 as the third numbered batch in the Ardnamurchan Core Range, AD/04.21:03 Release 3 is bottled at 46.8% ABV from ex Bourbon casks only. The distillery filled 17,502 bottles for the European market.

Both peated and unpeated production runs from the distillery's split regime feed this release. Concerto barley is milled into a copper topped semi lauter mash tun, fermented 72 to 120 hours in seven stainless steel washbacks on a single strain distiller's yeast and double distilled through wash and spirit stills with reflux boil balls to a new make of 74 to 76% ABV. Spirit was filled at 63.5% and matured on site at Glenbeg in dunnage warehousing, with coastal humidity slowing extraction.

Single cask type maturation in ex Bourbon American oak focuses the entire cask contribution on vanillin and oak lactones from the toasted and charred staves, framing the vanilla and citric brightness in the profile. Honey reflects Maillard reaction products from hemicellulose sugars released during seven plus years of expansion and contraction. The nutty and mossy notes point to retained congeners from the long fermentation, particularly furfural derivatives from grain processing. Peated phenols (guaiacol, syringol, 4 methylguaiacol from St Fergus Highland peat at 30 to 35 ppm) from the peated portion integrate as background structure without sherry darkness to mask, giving a cleaner peat register against the new wood top notes.