The Wood Makes The Whisky - The Examples

Last Autumn, the leading Scottish independent bottling company of Gordon & MacPhail launched a new campaign to show the importance of casks in the whisky maturation process - The Wood Makes The Whisky. It highlights the most important part of their business and is supported by a dedicated website and a selected number of whiskies, which have been bottled to demonstrate the various sections within the campaign.

In Part One of this blog post, we looked at the ideas and concepts behind the campaign.  In this part we sample some of the whiskies that Gordon & MacPhail have released to demonstrate the various points within the campaign.  These include combinations of different ages, styles, cask wood types and cask sizes to show how all can effect a whisky.

Review - Ardmore Port Wood Finish

The Port Wood Finish is the latest addition to the core single malt range from the east Highland distillery of Ardmore. It was released back in October of this year.  The whisky is made in the distillery's traditional mid-peated style, which has been produced there since the early 1900s.  It is currently the only Highland distillery to produce the majority of its whisky in the smoky style.  This whisky has been aged in ex-bourbon casks for 12 years before being finished in ex-Port half pipes. The Port Wood Finish comes in the new brand packaging, featuring map-style graphics of the local area and Ardmore's eagle logo.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (October 16, 2015)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Distillery visit - Ardmore

The Ardmore distillery is located in the village of Kennethmont, which sits amongst the rugged hills of the east Highlands and is about 45 minutes drive west of Aberdeen. It is a large distillery and one that is not open to the public.  However, Matt C was recently invited for a behind the scenes tour by owners Beam Suntory.  This was to celebrate the launch of their Peated Malts of Distinction initiative, which includes the introduction of the new Ardmore Legacy expression - to read Matt's review of that, click here.

New release - Ardmore 'Legacy'

The Legacy is a new core expression from the east Highland distillery of Ardmore.  The new release will replace the Traditional Cask bottling, which will eventually appear in another form during 2015.  The Legacy is the first release to feature a mix of the traditional peated Ardmore malt and a non-peated version, named Ardlair, which they have been making in small quantities each year since 2001.  The release also coincided with the launch of The Peated Malts of Distinction, a programme which showcases the entry level peaty/smoky whiskies of owners Beam Suntory.

Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (September 19, 2014)

Welcome to this week's Inbox.  For those that have recently discovered us, Inbox is our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our email inbox. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

Have just tried ... Ardmore 1990 from Gordon & MacPhail

Ardmore is a distillery that is located in the village of Kennethmont, close to Aberdeen in the east Highlands of Scotland. The name comes from the Gaelic 'ard moi', meaning 'big slope'. The distillery was founded in 1898 by Adam Teacher, who was the son of the famous blender William Teacher. Their company, William Teacher & Sons, decided to build their own distillery so as to have more control over the quality of whisky that was required for their blends and to have a constant supply. The distillery is currently owned by Beam Global and a large percentage of the 5.2 million litres that are produced at Ardmore annually still goes to the Teacher's blended whisky range.

As a result of this, Ardmore single malts are hard to find. The distillery's profile was raised in 2007 when they released their first whisky for a while. This was named the 'Traditional Cask' and sales continue to grow. The only other option is through the independent bottling companies, such as this expression released by Gordon & MacPhail. Unusually for a Highland whisky, Ardmore is made using peated malt. The level is 14ppm (phenols parts per million - the scale for measuring the peatiness in barley and whisky), making it peatier than most other Highland whiskies but not as smoky as Islay or island whiskies (which generally range from 25-55ppm). Ardmore is the only Highland distillery to permanently produce smoky whisky, although others in the nearby Speyside region practice this occassionally (namely Benriach, Benromach and Tomintoul).

This Ardmore was distilled in 1990 and bottled by Gordon & MacPhail in 2006 at 16 years of age. The colour is straw-like with a golden tint and the nose is pungent and smoky. There is a hit of aggressive peat (think of burnt acrid peat with a distinct bitter edge) but this mellows with time. Coming through after this are some lovely elements such as sweet vanilla, malty cereal grains and something floral (imagine heather). On the palate, the peatiness is less pronounced and combines well with the other characteristics. The smokiness feels savoury in its nature (think of meaty barbeque smoke) and this compliments some lovely sweet vanilla, toffee, cereals and oaky wood. The finish is long with an interesting toasted nuttiness appearing (imagine toasted almonds). The smokiness is still there and remains quite meaty and savoury but with an bitter edge that combines both iodine and menthol.

This is a lovely whisky that offers an alternative to some of the more well known whiskies in the smoky style. A bottle should cost around £30 and is available from specialist whisky retailers and Gordon & MacPhail's website.

Have just tried ... Ardmore 'Traditional Cask'

Ardmore is a Highland distillery near Aberdeen and is unusual as they use peated malt for their core range of whisky. Other highland and Speyside distilleries do this, but only for limited releases or batches to supplement their regular range (most notably Benriach, Benromach and Tomintoul). The phenol level is around 14ppm, making the final spirit much less smoky than whiskies from Islay or some of the other islands. The distillery is owned by Jim Beam Global and most of the 5 million litres of whisky produced each year goes to their flagship blend, Teacher's Highland Cream (one of the biggest selling blended whiskies in the UK). This 'Traditional Cask' was originally for export and duty free only but has just been released to UK retailers with the name deriving from the fact that the whisky is matured for some part in small casks that are a quarter of the size of a regular cask. . Other bottlings are few and far between, mostly coming from independent companies.

On the nose, this smells pretty good with the smokiness being quite meaty (like smoke from a barbeque) and sweet (it reminded me of fresh fruit, pears especially). On the palate, there is a similar initial sweetness and maltiness however this is quickly engulfed by the smoke. This feels thin in the mouth and the finish is short, both of which are quite different for a smoky whisky. Overall I was a bit disappointed as it was pretty one dimensional. It was all smoke and not much else. At £25-£30, it is up against some of the smoky big boys (Ardbeg 10 years old, Laphroaig 10 and Bowmore 12) but would be a decent choice if you were looking for something a bit more unusual.

Have just tried ... Compass Box 'The Peat Monster'

This is a vatted whisky consisting of different whiskies from different distilleries, that are aged between 10 and 15 years. The two main distilleries involved are Caol Ila from the island of Islay and Ardmore from the highlands. Caol Ila is generally regarded as one of the smokiest whiskies available, while Ardmore whisky is rich and sweet but with some smokiness (this is unusual for a Highland whisky). So from this description, you can probably guess what this is going to be like. The colour was very light, considering the ages of the spirits involved and the nose takes your breath away. It was very peaty, earthy and smoky (imagine a bonfire) with meaty notes (like the smell of an old leather jacket). However, there was a rich sweetness that battles through this that reminded me of vanilla mixed with honey. The taste was very intense. There was a crisp sweetness that hit the front of my tongue in the first instant and then the smokiness takes over. This smokiness is sweeter on tasting than on the nose, with less of the meaty quality. This whisky has a long, rich finish as the smoky, earthy flavour slowly fades away. I found this to be quite refreshing for a very smoky whisky and think that this may be down to the balance of the Caol Ila with the sweeter Ardmore. This shows the skill of the blender and as a result it is very interesting in character. This is one of the best examples of a blend or vatted whisky that I have tasted so far, however it is a bit more expensive than most other at around £30. Having said that, Compass Box whiskies are not as common as other brands of blended whisky.