Ardnamurchan AD/
Number 01 of 50
Ardnamurchan AD/
Age: Not stated (but 5 and 6 years old)
ABV: 46.8%
Chill filtered: No
Natural colour: Yes
Price: £44.95 (best price we found is £40)
What they say
Notes of oyster shell, campfire embers, waxy peel, honeycomb, strawberries with black pepper and a lingering maritime finish.
What we think
AD/ is the distillery’s first core release: rugged, solid, permanent, but at the same time bursting with life and energy – sweeter than perhaps you might anticipate, crisp, fruity, smoky.
THE DISTILLERY
Ardnamurchan feels like the marriage of two worlds: the traditional and the contemporary. There’s the distillery itself, of course, which looks like it has been bravely bracing itself on its eponymous peninsula for decades (in fact it has stood for less than one). And while it seems traditional in appearance, much of what goes on behind its white-washed walls has more than a splash of modernity. It bills itself as ‘Scotland’s greenest distillery’. A biomass boiler creates the steam that heats the stills, while the by-products of the whisky making process are pressed into pellets to feed the local cattle keeping waste, and unnecessary traffic, to a minimum. Then there’s the combination of wooden (four) and stainless steel (three) washbacks, and the fact that the distillery grows 60% of its own barley. Even the bottle, with its embossed glass stamp, feels as if it is 100 years old and bang up to date at the same time. Oh, and then there’s the blockchain, but more of that in the, erm, future.
“Being a modern distillery with traditional values, and caring for the environment and the local economy, is what we’re all about,” says Ardnamurchan’s Jenny Karlsson. “The distillery looks like it’s been here for generations – we are traditional and use traditional methods – but behind the scenes we’ve always focused on sustainability. Our environmental footprint is already very light, but we’re constantly looking at that – every new decision has to have a green thought behind it.”
THE WHISKY
Not only does the location play a part in the day-to-day operation of the distillery, it plays a huge part in the make-up of its whisky. The core expression tastes remote, if that is even a thing: rugged, solid, permanent, but at the same time bursting with life and energy – sweeter than perhaps you might anticipate, crisp, fruity, smoky. Orchard fruit – apples on the nose, then on the palate – and then the hit of gentle peat. It gives the impression of having been around for ages. It hasn’t. Old and new again.
AD/ consists of 50% peated and 50% unpeated spirit, and is matured in a mixture of roughly 65% bourbon and 35% sherry casks, although that might vary slightly from batch to batch as the team concentrates on putting flavour first.
“The west coast of Scotland is fantastic nature wise, and is just wild,” says Jenny. “The team here are big fans of Campbeltown’s and traditional coastal whiskies. Our intention was to be the west coast version of the distilleries we admire. When AD/ was in development ahead of its September 2020 release six versions were produced and it was agreed there was one that really represented the peninsula and the west coast of Scotland. It has quite a waxy feel, we talk about oyster shells, licking pebbles off the beach or off your lips when you come out of the sea…”
the ethos
“AD/ is made up of five- and six-year-old whisky, but it’s very much driven by flavour. Ten years ago people were turning their noses up at non age statement whiskies, but now there are so many out there and people are accepting them. They just like them for what they are,” says Jenny.
“We don’t want to sell a six-year-old whisky for £60. Why would we do that? We know we have good whisky – we love our whisky – but we’re trying to build this brand. We want to be Springbank in 200 years so we need to be consistent with the pricing. And since we launched in 2020, we haven’t put our price up once. AD/ has always been £45.”
The best deal we found online was £40 excluding P&P. For that you get a carefully curated whisky that is coloured naturally and non-chill filtered. “We never, ever considered anything else, there was no discussion,” says Jenny. “We very much believe in the mouthfeel you get with non-chill filtered spirit. It’s important to get that coating inside your mouth, that waxiness you get with our whisky.”
And what of that blockchain? Scan the QR code on the back of the bottle and you unlock the story of your whisky. Everything from the bottle number (this one is 62 out of 23,770), who bottled it (Lewis Hamilton, perhaps not THE Lewis Hamilton) and when (16/11/2022) to the barley variety (Concerto) and the farm that grew it (Broomhall). Even the temperatures of the three mashes (64°C, 82°C and 91°C) and who the mash operator was (Gordon Mackenzie) are all available to pore over. To be able to interrogate all that on your phone – that level of transparency – allows you to immediately feel part of the making process. It is a great way for a brand to share its story.
THE FUTURE
So what does the future hold for Ardnamurchan?
“We’re experimenting with sauternes casks, tequila, rum… The madeira came out last year, and there are plans for releases in the summer which have been matured in different casks,” says Jenny. “We are a curious team, and we’re enjoying seeing how the spirit develops in different types of wood. The DNA of the distillery will always shine through, but it’ll perhaps sometimes have on a different coat. We’re turning 10 next year and we will have something that celebrates that decade of modern/traditional whisky making. There’s stuff happening the whole time.”