Ardmore 10 Year Old 2008 Smoking Buffalo

This is the end of an era… with this 10th edition, the infamous Smoking Buffalo series – a smoked whisky in honour of AA Gent, a Belgian premier league football team – comes to an end. For their 10th and final edition, they found a cask in the Highlands: a 10 years old Ardmore at casks strength. The bourbon cask yielded 265 bottles of this very pale liquid.

Earthy and quite vegetal nose on mashed potatoes and apples, mackerel and white bread. Some shoe polish in the background, giving it a dirty edge that I fancy. Vanilla and coconut brittle. The peat is there, but you cannot claim there is any development of smoke.

It is very sturdy on the palate, feisty and a lot more sweet than the nose made you expect. Pebbles in your mouth, a truckload of vanilla and white fruit with – I kid you not – a hint of apricots and banana. Now I do get some warm smoke. Leans towards Caol Ila, which I always find a good thing. Very tasty.

The finish is pretty long, sweet and with some soot at the death.

Lovely powerhouse to end this series with.

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