Breaking Note!: A brand new Ardnamurchan on Sauternes Casks

Ardnamurchan is without a doubt the darling of all the new distilleries opening up in Scotland in the last ten tot fifteen years. Their honest approach to creating and releasing single malt Highland whisky is much appreciated by the community. Today, we taste their newest expression in the Cask Release series, which previously spoiled us with sherry, rum and madeira influences. The latest installment is the sauternes cask. Besides doing wonders in more traditional whisky casks, the good people at Ardnamurchan seem to make the right choices in which (exotic) casks to put their whisky; the Paul Lanois releases are also upper echelon expressions. Maybe they will skip the more intrusive casks like port and red wine? Ardnamurchan Tokaji, anyone?

I have to say, I do hope that Ardnamurchan does not go down the same road as Springbank and becomes more and more a whisky for the elite, especially if you want something special like a single cask. Since the various independent bottlings started scoring 90 points on renowned websites, prices have followed suit. In January 2023 I bought a single cask by Cadenhead’s for 75 euro. Exactly one year later, a Berry Bros and Rudd bottling in the Collective #1: Pioneers series put me back 160 euro. Both were 6 year old single malts. I hope and pray we will not see the ridiculous development of under 10 year old Ardnamurchan going over the 200 euro line.

Anyway, after this obligatory price worries, let us taste the proprietary bottled Ardnamurchan.

Ardnamurchan Sauternes Cask Release, bottled at 50 % abv

Makeup: Ardnamurchan provides almost all the information you want via a QR-code. Exactly 5990 bottles were released and all were bottled by Kelly Combe, Holly McCafferty and Reece Donaldson (just saying). Bottling took place on 29 May 2024. All whisky is unpeated and filled into cask in 2016. The information leaflet states “bourbon/sauternes”, which confuses me, because this only deals with the “ASB”, as Ardnamurchan calls it, short for American Standard Barrel. When I read the label, it says “finished in Sauternes barrique”. When a transfer happened from regular casks to barriques is not clear, nor is the length of the finish. Something to work on for next time, Ardnamurchan! Of course, we are nitpicking here.

General impressions: Wow, the aroma hits you with an abundance of fruits that could easily fool you into believing this whisky was made in Speyside, not the rugged Highland location where you find the distillery. Having recently been to Vienna, I bought quite some chocolate. 

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The smells from the glass remind me of the stores full with exotic mixes of chocolate with in their core something juicy or jammy, like Mirabelle, regular plums and exuberant vanilla. The spirit dances a remarkable dance with the exotic cask influence. I am reminded of the Glenmorangie Sauternes finish (Nectar d’Or), which is a bottle I always enjoyed for its summery freshness. The Ardnamurchan however is much more powerful, probably because of the younger age and good bottling strength.

On the tongue, you can really use this bottle to explain the difference between sweet taste and sweet taste. If you close your eyes and think of a colour, you are tasting an orange sweetness. It cannot be a coincidence that Ardnamurchan choose to put an orange label on the bottle. In their own notes they mention apricot and I have to agree that is the dominant taste here. With water, the whisky changes in what I could almost describe as a cocktail in itself. To me, it also reveals a great amount of honeyed notes, with brown sugar and a hint of bitterness. Very complex.

Conclusion: Another strong release by Ardnamurchan. The Sherry Cask Release was excellent, the Rum Cask Release had some downsides, but this Sauternes Cask Release is up again. It is a style that is really off the beaten path, and probably offers a delightful variation on the average bottle of whisky in your cabinet.

Score: 88 points

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