Last summer, I missed an interesting session with the Bombay Malt & Cigar gents with the theme “What’s in a Name?“. The inspiration for this theme obviously came from how the whiskies were dubbed inventive titles such as “Peace, Love & Whisky“, “Memories” plus this one called “April Fool’s”! All three were from independent bottlers – the initial two were from Simply Whisky and this last whisky was bottled by The Whisky Exchange.
Very kindly they kept aside samples for me to experience solo.
As background, for those not familiar with the story, Ardnamurchan is the Highland distillery recently re-opened by independent bottlers Adelphi. The original distillery stopped production in the early 20th century and its current avatar officially opened in 2014. Ardnamurchan produces both unpeated and peated single malts.
So… what did I think about this expression?
Ardnamurchan 5-year “April Fool – Extremely Old, I wish I were Younger” (2022) 53.2% (The Whisky Exchange) 1575 bottles. GBP 75
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- Colour – Bright gold
- Nose – What first greets you is a decided sour aroma. A cross between sour apple sauce and a balsamic reduction. It then opened up to woods, toasted nuts, smoked meats, heavy caramel, warm and oily, some fruits
- Palate – Hot and spicy! There are more smoked meats, joined by smoked fish, sweet spices, and more of that oily element. Certainly this would be part of their peat expressions…
- Finish – Strong, hot, bitter and long
- Water – Don’t mind if I do! It helps, it really helps.
- On the nose, it brings out some fruit sauce – like a mix of apples and others. the sweet spices of ginger, allspice, nutmeg and cloves peak out.
- With a generous splash, it also tames the palate, allowing more of the sweetness to come through – some fudge with a ginger honey glaze topped by a coastal salt spray
- The finish too becomes much more approachable
- Have you had salmon on cedar plank? Somehow it reminded me a bit of that once watered down, settling a bit. This is no sprightly romp through the park. Instead, it is more like tromping through a deep forest in autumn.
I’ll have to admit that until I added a dollop of water (no mere carefully measured drops!), I wasn’t so enthusiastic about this dram. However, with water, I could see this being the bracing accompaniment to coming in from the cold.
That shared, I had trouble reconciling this not-so-thrilling experience with the positive buzz I’ve heard and read about Ardnamurchan. Me thinks in the upcoming September London Whisky Show, we’ll have to spend some time exploring to make a more informed determination for ourselves.
- What more do we know? This whisky has been aged in first-fill ex-Bourbon casks for 5 years before being bottled at cask strength.
Here is what the folks at The Whisky Exchange have to say:
Our April Fool’s 2022 special release is wise beyond its years. Distilled at Ardnamurchan under the watchful eye of the Adelphi Distillers team, this five-year-old whisky combines centuries of tradition with modern whisky making to create a fruity dram, run through with a gentle seam of peat smoke. The whisky’s details are hidden on the label, only revealed when you shine a UV torch on them – April Fool!
Compliments of my friends this is what the bottle looks like to the “naked eye”.
And under the black light? This is what you can see… sort of… revealing that it is a mere 5-year-old upstart!
What else was sampled in an evening devoted to What’s in a Name?“:
- Benrinnes 10-year “Peace, Love & Whisky” (Apr 2011 – Dec 2021) Cask 304354, 50.5% (Simply Whisky)
- Blair Athol 11-year “Memories” (Oct 2010 – Dec 2021) Cask 302317, 51.6% (Simply Whisky)
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