This is the first spirit to be released from Adelphi’s new project, "Ardnamurchan", the most Westerly distillery in mainland Scotland. Even though the spirit is too young to be classified as whisky (three years is the threshold in Scotland), demand has massively outstripped supply so be quick on the draw to secure a bottle.
Adelphi started investigating options to meet demand for their whiskies years ago and realised the future lay in establishing their own distillery (rather than sticking to purchasing casks or acquiring an existing distillery). So Ardnamurchan was built, South-East of the village of Glenbeg in the vicinity of the Adelphi headquarters.
Opened in July 2014 and designed as an eco-friendly operation, the main source of energy is a biomass plant fueled by local sustainable wood supplies. Springs off the Glenmore river supply water. The focus is on low volume and complete quality control with production of peated and unpeated whiskies that are 100% natural. AD 2016 is representative of the first spirit laid down when the distillery commenced production. Made from barley grown on Broomhall Farm in Fife, next to the company’s bottling facility, the new-make was filled into 15 American oak ex Oloroso and PX octaves (55L) and 14 American oak ex Oloroso and PX octaves. Incorporating both peated and unpeated whiskies, all 29 octaves were married in 500L Spanish oak ex PX butts for two months prior to bottling.
As a first edition, the collector rush has been wild with Ardnamurchan completely over-subscribed in Europe.
“Prior to a launch we contacted our UK and international agents and distributors to gauge interest and take pre-orders,” said Alex Bruce, managing director of Adelphi. “While it’s not unusual for there to be a healthy amount of interest in our whisky, the demand for our new Ardnamurchan Spirit was exceptionally high. We’ve produced 2500 bottles but we could have easily sold three times that amount. Pre-orders were 7500 at the last count.”
Strikingly branded with ‘AD’ marking both the name of the distillery and standing for "Anno Domini", the slate grey bottle reflects the volcanic past of the Ardnamurchan peninsula. A hydrometer-shaped window highlights the colour of the spirit. Natural colour and non-chill filtered. 53% Alc./Vol.
