By Genevieve Jacot-Guillarmod
Rating: B
(Credit: Genevieve Jacot-Guillarmod)
I know I am a little late to the party with this one – new and exciting releases tend to take just a little longer to reach me here in South Africa. Still, better late than never! As the name suggests, this is the very first whisky to be released by Ardnahoe.
Ardnahoe is a relatively new distillery. It was founded by the Hunter Laing family, who are the team behind the Glasgow-based independent blenders and bottlers, Hunter Laing & Co. Ltd. The name of the distillery comes from its location next to Loch Ardnahoe, which also serves as its water source.
Construction of the distillery began in 2016, with distillation commencing two years later in 2018. Given that their very first casks were filled in November 2018, the decision to wait until 2024 to release their first whisky is a little unusual. Ardnahoe could technically have released a whisky after three years, but instead they opted to wait a little longer in order to release this 5-year-old expression.
This Ardnahoe Inaugural Release has been matured in a combination of ex-bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks. It is bottled at what Ardnahoe states is their preferred strength of 50% ABV, so you can expect a certain degree of intensity. It’s also natural in colour and non-chill filtered.
The Scotch
It is tawny in colour. On the nose there’s some hefty peat smoke, with an almost rich and meaty quality to it. Alongside the smoke, fresh fruit notes emerge, including pear, green melon, and mango. A slightly spicy note lurks in the background, which reminds me of cinnamon, and perhaps the faintest trace of aniseed.
The palate has a noticeably viscous, mouth-coating texture, lending the whisky a surprisingly soft and rounded feel for such a young spirit bottled at high strength. The peat is still present, but perhaps not as intense as the nose would suggest. Flavours of buttery shortbread appear, followed by some slightly darker fruit notes, plums and strawberries. An aromatic woody note develops, followed by a spicy prickle which lingers for some time.
A drop of water helped to make the fruit notes on the nose much brighter and sweeter. On the palate, however, the buttery note soften, and I found that the whisky lost the viscosity that I had enjoyed.
In spite of its relative youth, the Ardnahoe Inaugural Release does not come across as obviously immature. It shows a good degree of complexity and feels reasonably well-rounded. That being said, youth and peat go well together (as anyone who has tasted Ardbeg’s 5-year-old Wee Beastie can attest), and I think fans of peated whisky are unlikely to be disappointed here. I personally also enjoyed the fruitiness of this whisky, particularly the fresh mango notes that I got on the nose. All in all, I enjoyed this whisky, and look forward to tasting more of what Ardnahoe has to offer in the future.
The Price
The Inaugural Release from Ardnahoe is a fairly pricy for a young whisky. It appears to still be available in the UK at around £75. In my local market, where bottles are harder to come by, it sells for closer to £140. Given the limited number of bottles and the considerable hype surrounding a new Islay distillery, however, the pricing is perhaps understandable.
