Ardnamurchan Tyndrum
AD/09:18 CASK 1287 | 58.1% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
An outlier, but great fun to play with. Pricey.
Graphs and Charts.
When you spend as much time as I have with my head and shoulders inside the rabbit hole of a specific distillery, you might reach the point I did late last year where all the things I was buying started to become subtle variations on themes, rather than explosive new discoveries.
It’s an enviable position for a distillery to inhabit I supposed, where your product can be shrugged off as more of the excellent same.
A scatter plot graph springs to mind, where trends start to appear. New bottles clustering around old bottles on the chart - like that other thing but slightly more something. That new single cask of 6yo refill bourbon is quite like the other 6yo refill bourbon single cask, but is a bit more…fill in the blank; that new batch of Cask Strength Release is, albeit incrementally more resolved, still as I remember it, owing to exceptional consistency of product that Ardnamurchan put out. They’re both added to the chart in earnest beside the other dots and, as is probably natural, the feeling of having reached saturation point begins to creep into view.
It’s not a reduction in interest or passion, just a plateau, of knowledge and of having gathered a wealth of information that affords perspective. A privileged place to be. But when things like the AD/Venturer’s Sauternes release or the Golden Promise hand-fill of dreams appear, the hairy hand extends quicker than Musk’s share value descends. It’s an opportunity to potentially see a different angle, and add another dot on the chart that might sit further away from all the other dots.
Ardnamurchan are ringing loudly over the airwaves, and the fervency for their wares is as red hot as it always has been, but we’re seeing a lot more bottles hang around now, which is great for us hair-trigger folk, relaxing the sphincter of FOMO a bit. That bottles are sticking isn’t a reflection of a decline in the quality of Ardnamurchan’s whisky, the opposite is true, but perhaps it’s more the current climate of purse tightening and the overwhelming range of whisky being pelted at us from all directions that has given us pause for thought.
In fact, loads of whisky that used to be impossible to even get a side-eye of - Daftmill being one of the most elusive - are hanging around. Right now there’s bottles of the latest release Daftmill unsold the country over almost a month since launch, which just a year ago would be unfathomable.
The aforementioned clutching of pennies might go some way to explain it: Daftmill is quite expensive. £105 for, granted very high quality, 12 year old 46% whisky released in a batch of 7,500 bottles, is still difficult to rationalise when you can buy something like two single cask Glasgow Small Batch Series for much the same and arguably get more bang for your buck, if exploration is your approach.
When this Ardnamurchan single cask bottled for Tyndrumwhisky.com appeared on the scene my Go-Go-Gadget arm sprung out from my sleeve so fast my tennis elbow pressed charges, but my hand stopped short seeing the £92.50 asking price.
For single cask Ardnamurchan whisky of 6 years vintage, this is £10 more than is typically expected for the blue bottles, £20 more than the AD/Venturer’s Sauternes single cask and £32,50 more than one of those aforementioned single cask Glasgows.
The proximity to triple digits made me twitchy. Sure, it’s not Daftmill rinsing, and single cask Ardnamurchan is always an event for me, but almost £100 is enough to fire up the red stop light inside the withering wheelhouse.
I don’t drink with my eyes but, having reconciled the price as a necessary fee for completionism, nothing could stop me when I saw the colour of this whisky. Tyndrum’s own pictures made this look like cola, and brought to mind other dark horses like the Alastair Walker Glenrothes, or even the Craigellachie from Cadenhead’s, both extreme examples. What must it taste like, if after just 6 years in cask it’s that dark in colour? No-one so far, from Ardnamurchan or any indies I can think of, has released a single cask this dark.
I’ve become really sensitive to the realities of cask influence and what some, in the case of really dark young whiskies, might argue is nothing more than sherry mixed with some whisky. We’re also in a time when a lot of the whisky available has been given a wee spurt of something at the end of its maturation, a dalliance with a wine or sherry cask, to spruce it up. I certainly used to read “Sherry Cask Finish” as “Sherry Matured Whisky” and bought indiscriminately. However a few disappointments have made me more aware, and more nervous, when things are this dark, this young.
I bought it in the spirit of exploration, with the cynical expectation that it would be nothing more than a sherry rinsing, thus giving me another wide-field reference point and might even raise an eyebrow as to a rare misstep for Ardnamurchan. I applaud letting the spirit speak for itself through this release: the folk involved clearly thought this cask worthy of bottling with their reputation on the front.
Review
Ardnamurchan Tyndrum Single Cask, 6 years old, Peated, Spanish Oak Ex-Oloroso Sherry, AD/09:18 CASK 1287, 58.1% ABV
£92.59 at Tyndrum Whisky
It arrived in prompt fashion from those cool cats at Tyndrum, and in person the concern increased; the whisky is almost black. Even when the viewing glass is aligned with a light source, the whisky offers up little more.Treacle. Blood red maroon. I’m preparing myself to be disappointed, and at £95, sorely to boot.
Being the restless type, and wanting to maximise my enjoyment of all aspects of whisky (for whisky is fun, right? ), I decided to get a better look at the colour by digging out an empty Ardnamurchan bottle from the recycle pile and, after a good clean and some heat-gun activated label swappage, decant the entire new bottle into clear glass. It’s striking to say the least, seeing how dark this bottle is when fully exposed like this. Magnificent, I’d say, and far more enjoyable to see it there, swishing about darkly, than through a peephole. Some shouted sacrilege (McWee). I say, it’s my ball and I’ll cry if I want to.
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
An outlier, but great fun to play with. Pricey.
Nose
Juicy plums, figs, dense raisins, dark redness. Rocky, PVA, saucy - tomato/soy/sriracha sticky chilli sauce. Coastal. Dark dark maroon. Burnt sugar. Burnt toast. Sweet wisps of smoke, charcoal. Cold bonfire.
Palate
Dusty chalky concrete. Tastes like Warehouse 1 at Glenbeg. Dark fruits, spicy bam. dates, black pepper, sweet smoke and sticky sweet marshmallows. Sandy. Christmas pudding with burnt top. Coastal salty sweet - the Glenbeg character remains, enrobed in maroon.
The Dregs
Well now, this is not at all what I expected. I don’t know whether to be surprised by the lack of obliteration by sherry insurrection, or that the Glenbeg spirit is robust and powerful enough in character to push through even the most dense of sherry influences. This is delicious whisky, and yes it has darkness - spice, dates, plums, prunes, dark spices; clove, black pepper - but it sings coastal too with saltiness, rocks, shells, seaweed et al. A magic trick.
Granted it’s nothing like the Cask Strength Release coastal bonfire marshmallow fest, and while similar to the red Sherry Cask Release, it’s perhaps a denser, darker mix of the two. The peat doesn’t overwhelm, and whilst not my absolute favourite Ardnamurchan style, the sherry + peated spirit works beautifully to bring an added depth through extended earthy smoke, and a wider flavour stage as a result - the wings can extend a little bit wider - something at which the Doddy cask excelled.
This is darker and denser than the Doddy. It's darker and denser than most Ardnamurchan you might find, save the Golden Promise thick cut or I might even stretch to the Sauternes Cask Release, both in terms of gloss coating rather than colour. It’s a compelling combination of smoke, dark treacle, coastal seaside and salty freshness.
It’s a lovely example of Ardnamurchan at the limits of what I reckon it can go. Balance, as Connal Mackenzie often says, is paramount - it can be as dark or as light, as smoky or as salty as you like, so long as it has balance and poise to support those heavier elements. This is teetering, a line kicker where, with water added, it steps back enough to open up the flavours, enhance the sweetness and reduce the bite. Seaside licks appear, so there is lots of scope to fiddle. Crucially, it always remains balanced enough to remain upright.
I’ve really enjoyed this one. It’s way off the norms for Ardnamurchan on the scatter graph, and widens the reference library further, which pleases me. But, for £92.50 it’s a tall ask when put beside other single cask 6yo offerings, and I feel it’s just a hair too much. Seems a bit silly to quibble with £7.50, but all the other single cask offerings are £85 and had it been priced at this level, I might not have cared much. Psychology, innit.
For those hell bent on trying everything coming from Ardnamurchan like me, it’s a goodun’, but for those looking for something less extreme or not interested in the quirky ones to mess about with, the Sherry Cask Release at £65 and a water-friendly 50%, is the safer bet. Still, a very good DCNSA 7/10.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DC
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