Ardnamurchan AD/ Cask Strength Release 2023

Released in 2023 as a global market Cask Strength expression from Ardnamurchan, this batch is bottled at 58.1% ABV without dilution from ex Bourbon casks only. The single cask type approach focuses cask interaction on American oak alone.

Production starts with Concerto barley 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, then double distilled through copper pot stills with reflux boil balls to a new make of 74 to 76% ABV. The release combines peated and unpeated runs from the distillery's split regime. Spirit was filled at 63.5% and matured on site in dunnage warehousing at Glenbeg.

Maturation in ex Bourbon American oak alone focuses the cask contribution on vanillin and the cis isomer of whisky lactone, with toasted oak sugars driving honey and vanilla development through Maillard chemistry. The smokey, hay and new wood character listed in the profile reflects retained fermentation congeners under cask strength bottling, where dilution does not strip volatile esters from the bottled liquid. Peated phenols (guaiacol, syringol, 4 methylguaiacol from St Fergus Highland peat at 30 to 35 ppm) carry from the peated portion as a clear structural smoke, with no sherry darkness to mask the cleaner American oak palette.