Ardmore Traditional Cask Review

“I’m at the liqour store, what kind of scotch do you want?” It took a few seconds for those words to sink in before I answered, “Something I’ve never had before.” She selected, Ardmore Highland Single Malt Traditional Cask is a whisky with a long history in its native land, but is not quite as common in the States. With only 3,000 cases produced for the U.S. market, this whisky may not be available at your local liqour store.

The Ardmore distillery, in Aberdeenshire, has been producing whisky since 1898 and they pride themselves on doing things the old fashioned way. Ardmore has one of the best web sites for a distillery on the Net. While it is a little heavy on the flash, they have a wealth of information including great video tours. I definitely recommend checking it out. The information to be gained is well worth the time.

The Ardmore Traditional Cask is ‘fully’ peated whisky and matured twice. The first maturation uses American oak, used bourbon casks and the second maturation uses old school quarter casks designed to give it a more traditional single malt flavor. According to Ardmore, this is the only scotch whisky that is fully peated and has been since its creation, more than one hundred years ago.

This whisky has a light amber color that is a touch more yellow than gold. The aroma has a slightly fruity smell, but the strength (92 proof) is quite detectable with the nose alone. This particular single-malt is a bit too much for me ‘neat’ and I highly recommend you serve it on the rocks or with a dash of water. Fortunately, you can always claim that you’re adding water for the taste, because a little bit of water really does open up the flavor significantly. Ardmore’s claims about the amount of peating done with this particular single malt is backed up 100% as soon this scotch passes your lips. The predominant flavors in this whisky is smoke and peat with a touch of vanilla. I found the smokiness and peat overtones a bit overpowering at first and it took a little getting used to. The finish was long and warming, but not unpleasantly so.

I have never been a big fan of really smoky single malts, but I know that there are a lot of you out there that love them. If you like your single malts nice and smoky, than the Ardmore Highland Single Malt Traditional Cask is definitely something you should try; that is, if you can find it.