Ardnahoe Inaugural Release - 50%

 

From the distillery

We are very proud to present our limited edition Inaugural Release.
Matured in a combination of ex-Bourbon and ex-Oloroso sherry casks, our Inaugural Release has been bottled at our preferred strength of 50% alcohol, without artificial colouring or chill-filtration.

Tasting notes

Appearance: Burnished gold, forms a thin line which beads before falling as slow, thin legs.

Nose: Apple crumble, bonfire smoke, phenolic peat, caramelised sugar topping on a crème brûlée and a touch of salty sea air.

Palate: An initial nip of black pepper, followed by ashy smoke, apple crumble and custard, toasted hazelnuts, zesty lemon, coastal salt, ginger and mild chilli heat. With a few drops of water, more creamy custard appears together with a slightly herbal note.

Finish: Becomes more smoky and slightly herbal, with bitter dark chocolate, nutty oak and a bite of chilli.

Overall: To say there was eager anticipation over the release of this bottling would be putting it mildly, I’ve been looking forward to this one since visiting the distillery back in 2022. When the bottle finally arrived in my grubby mitts, my first impression was that they’d successfully managed to deliver that ‘wow factor’. A whisky can only really be judged by its quality, but the beautiful bottle design and branding deserves to be acknowledged, and it’s obvious a lot of time and thought went into the design process.

So, onto the whisky itself, and I’ll be honest and say my first dram out of the bottle was met with a sense of disappointment. There was peat smoke, but the dominant note was one of young oak. However, that first dram can often be misleading, so I set the bottle aside for a week or so before going back to it, and I was somewhat relieved to see how well it had opened up during that time.

There is an unsurprising youthfulness to the spirit, but the influence of the Bourbon and Oloroso casks have helped to produce a good quality dram with just enough peat smoke to give a clue to its Islay origins. I wouldn’t describe it as deep or complex, but as an inaugural release it holds up well.

So now we get down to the thorny issue of the recent pricing of inaugural bottles. If you asked me if this is a £70 whisky I would have to say no, but I would also admit there is what amounts to a surcharge on these types of release. Curiosity value, with this being the first new Islay distillery since Kilchoman, mean there was always going to be a demand for this bottle and there was a definite feeling of trepidation after the over the top price point set by Inchdairnie with the RyeLaw release. As such, £70 may not be a bargain but it could have been a lot worse, and you do get a very interesting whisky at a solid abv which gives a good indication of exciting things to come from the distillery.

If you would like more information on this whisky or the Ardnahoe brand, follow the link to the company website.