Ardnamurchan Spirit Drink Limited Release No. 01 (Adelphi)

Limited Release No. 01 is the first commercial bottling drawn from the Ardnamurchan distillery, released by Adelphi in 2016. As the spirit was under three years old at bottling, it is labelled as a spirit drink rather than single malt Scotch whisky. Presented at 53% ABV from Oloroso sherry casks for the Netherlands market.

Production followed the distillery's standard regime from its earliest period: Concerto barley milled into the 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 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 in dunnage warehousing on the peninsula.

Short maturation in Oloroso casks focuses the early extract on the sherry signature rather than the slow developed Maillard products that build over longer maturation. The Oloroso fraction contributes the dried fruit and oxidative character of fortified wine soaked oak, with rancio chemistry producing nutty and toasted register through polyphenol and aldehyde oxidation. At this young age the distillate character remains prominent, with peated phenols (guaiacol, syringol, 4 methylguaiacol from St Fergus Highland peat at 30 to 35 ppm) reading at near full intensity from the peated portion of the split production.