Ardmore 9 Year Old 2009 Whiskybroker cask #2642C

The Scottish company Whiskybroker.co.uk has an Ardmore fourling on the market. They had filled a refill sherry butt with spirit on 15th October 2009 and after about 8 years they re-casked the whisky to 4 oloroso octaves. This is a small cask which speeds up maturation. The octaves got the same cask number, but the letters A through D were added. I’m not sure what happened to casks A & D, but I know that casks B & C are bottled. Cask 2642B yielded only 72 bottles, while cask 2642C yielded only 68 bottles. I’ll gladly put them head to head. I’ll start with cask 2642C at 56%. It is the darkest of the two. I try this one first as it has the lower ABV of the two.

Errr… there is little Ardmore to be found in here, I have to say. This smells like sherry, but on steroids. Coffee, leather, honey, hazelnuts and shoe polish. There is some smoke, sure, but not more than what I sometimes find in this sherry. Let’s keep it at woodsmoke.

It is quite creamy and immediately honeysweet with a sour touch as if from grapefruit. But the smokiness is now unmistakable and keeps your mouth warm. That makes up for a lot. Again hazelnuts – make that Nutella – roasted coffee beans, sultanas and dates. But again… feels like tasting an enhanced sherry.

The finish is medium long on more of the same, but leaves the mouth dry.

This is good, don’t get me wrong, but I would not have called this whisky if tasted blind.

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