Ardara Irish Single Malt 2025
Triple-distilled, All-grain-in Irish Whiskey | 46% ABV
Score: 5/10
Average. In a good way.
TL;DR
Brash, edgy and intriguingly different. Anything but average, irrespective of the score
And now for something completely different.
I have a fascination, perhaps a perverse one, with the moment of discomfort which happens when you experience something completely novel. Something that does not fit in the parameters of your personal experiences and challenges what you take for granted.
It goes beyond like or dislike, enjoyment or repulsion. It is the pure sense of what, after some time, I ended up recognising as constructive confusion.
Confusion, because it is so different to any frame of reference you may have. Constructive, because once it happens your perceptions change. Or as Lewis Carrol would have put it: “I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.’
My first experiences with whisky were ripe with those first disorienting novelty moments. The first taste of Islay peat - a Laphroaig 10 years old, unlike any other liquid I had sipped before, would be the obvious experience to exemplify that “something completely different”. That iodine and phenol smell was something familiar from my practical chemistry courses at Uni, but definitely not something I thought I would be ingesting willingly.
Likewise my first proper sherry bomb, an A’bunadh (probably batch 31 or 32 considering the year), was a real challenge to process initially - too much alcohol and too powerful a taste sensation for an inexperienced palate like mine back then. But quickly, once the confusion passed and I recalibrated my palate, both became something I could not put down.
With time there have been other similar moments: the first proper hit of machine workshop funk in a Campbeltown dram, the occasional farmyard (let’s be honest, manure) or lactic notes in some other beloved bottles. But, as it should be, with time the mental library of tastes and aromas becomes richer and the novelty fades away and a comforting familiarity takes its place. So, after a while, the thought of experiencing something completely different in a whisky again became an afterthought.
But the beautiful things about these constructive losses of directions, is that they happen when you least expect them.
Review
Ardara Irish Single Malt, 2025 Edition, Triple-distilled, All Grains In, Heavily Peated, NC, NCF, 46% ABV
€70 paid (£63) spotty, market dependent availability
I had never heard of Ardara Distillery before Whisky Live Paris. And it would have probably stayed that way if it hadn’t been for Dave, Dingle’s Brand Ambassador. Ainsley, myself and a couple of other malt mates headed to Dingle to try their newly released 10 year old and new Single Pot Still, both of which I enjoyed - especially the latter. It is intriguing to see a more muscular take on Single Pot Still than the average output of popular Irish distilleries. But that’s not what you are here for today.
After exchanging some friendly banter, Dave suggested we head to the Ardara booth to try their newly released single malt. When someone who is trying to sell their own product points you to a potential competitor, even one which is their friend, it usually pays to listen.
So, a while later, after hitting some of our not-to-be-missed exhibitors, it was time to find out what the fuss was about. We started trying some of the (I believe, sourced) Silkie which, while perfectly fine, failed to cause any excitement after the many impressive drams of the day. And then we had a pour of the Single Malt.
I heard Triple Distilled, so, ignorant and prejudiced, I was ready for a mellow “Irish style” (whatever that means) dram. For the sin of jumping to a conclusion I got a proper flavour smack to the face. What had I just tasted? If the lovely lady serving us had, at some point, mentioned it was heavily peated, I completely missed it.
But this was a completely different peat to the Islay or Highlands notes I am used to. Dark, sooty, rubbery; distillate driven and young. The first words forming in my head were “this is terrib…” but I didn’t even finish the sentence before the shock turned to that fascination with a new disorienting feeling. It was a fleeting moment in two days of fantastic spirit experiences, but it stuck.
After Whisky Live Paris I found myself thinking back to Ardara. I wanted to spend more time with it and understand, at the very least, what had managed to catch my attention. Spending hard earned cash for something we might eventually find disappointing is often not a smart move. But when curiosity bites, my scientific background takes over, as does the desire to dig deeper.
It took a while until a few bottles appeared in shops that would ship to Italy. When it did, I had to pull the trigger even if I had set a self-imposed ban until Glasgow Whisky Festival. Ardara’s distribution is still limited. As far as I was able to find, besides its native Ireland, I had seen bottles of this pop up in The Netherlands, Germany and France, but not the UK or the US yet.
Before jumping to the tasting notes there are a couple of production choices worth mentioning. The distillery highlights that their style harks back to the Donegal tradition of whiskey making. Since I am mostly ignorant about Irish Whiskey’s history, I take it at face value. I am sure other more expert readers and writers will correct me if that is just Ardara’s own marketing spiel. I am more interested in what this translates to: all-grain-in, heavily peated and triple distilled.
Triple distilled peated spirits are not a common occurrence, but not unique to Ardara. Teeling’s Blackpitts is the only other example that comes to mind unless I go back to pre-1928 Talisker. The other uncommon decision, possibly unique in the Irish landscape, is the decision to produce the peated single malt as an “All-grain-in” whisky. In other words, a whisky where the mash is not strained and where, instead, every part of the fermented grain solids go into the wash still for the first distillation. If you believe the marketing spiel, this adds body to the distillate. The proof is going to be in the pudding, or the drinking. I am only sure of one thing: I wouldn’t want to be the person who needs to clean up the muck out of the wash still after an all grain-in distillation.
Score: 5/10
Average. In a good way.
TL;DR
Brash, edgy and intriguingly different. Anything but average, irrespective of the score
Nose
That sense of trying something completely different remains even after repeated tests. Is this a whisky or a scene from The Fast and The Furious? There are all sorts of mechanical workshop notes and the burnt rubber smell of cars doing donuts. Then different layers of smoke: smoked mezcal, old chimney soot, burning pipe tobacco. It takes a while for my nose to get used to all those “black” smells. (Can smells have a colour? Definitely in this case). Once the olfactory receptors are properly desensitised, there is a noticeable young distillate smack. Finally some more “traditional” notes of: caramel, coconut, vanilla custard biscuits and a little cinnamon.
Palate
The first sip has a lovely creamy texture. Maybe that all-grain-in distillation does have a point. Pretty quickly though, that silky feeling starts to clash with the young hot spirit. The black smoky notes become a bit mellower on the palate. That smoked mezcal note returns, together with well cooked, almost burnt bread… Scottish well-fired rolls perhaps. There is a mix of saltiness and citrus that reminds me of Moroccan salt-pickled lemons. Finally some apples and pear and a good hit of vanilla.
The finish is medium long. Initially it is full-on engine workshop, grease and rubber, then it turns almost salty. Then a blast of artificially-flavoured vanilla syrup, some candied lemon peel. On the finish a big hit of bitter almond essence.
The Dregs
Finding completely new flavours in whisky is not an every day, or even an every year occurrence. This Ardara is completely out there and different from anything I have tried before. But that’s far from saying that it translates to that new taste being pleasing.
I suspect this will be one that splits the crowd; a true Marmite whisky. Some will enjoy it. It did impress a certain very respected French whisky critic. Yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if for most this falls firmly on the lower end of the scoring curve. A couple of fellow Dramface writers, who tried some during the Glasgow Whisky Festival weekend, would likely agree.
For me, this could have easily been a 4, but also a 7, depending on if I decided to score this with my “traditional” whisky frame of reference or if, instead, I let my excitement for something new and unusual take over. Only repetition smoothed those edges out.
So, after a few evenings spent with this bottle, the excitement for the uniqueness of Ardara’s liquid remained. I love that there is something so different from the canonical single malt experience. At the same time the youth of the liquid became more apparent. It is, not uniquely to Ardara, a whisky from a young distillery which feels like it needs more time before it is ready for the market. Ardara doesn’t state the age of this 2025 bottling, but considering distillation started in 2021 it cannot be older than 4 and likely closer to 3 years old.
In the end, I am scoring this a 5 not because this is average, as the Dramface scale states -it is anything but. Rather because, even with its imperfections, there is a lot which excites me about what the future may hold for Ardara’s liquid. I am looking forward to trying how this will be with 3-4 years of extra ageing: once it starts to lose those distillate forward notes and gain some complexity. And more than anything, I hope it will remain something completely different.
Score: 5/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. HC
-
Dramface is free.
Its fierce independence and community-focused content is funded by that same community. We don’t do ads, sponsorships or paid-for content. If you like what we do you can support us by becoming a Dramface member for the price of a magazine.
However, if you’ve found a particular article valuable, you also have the option to make a direct donation to the writer, here: buy me a dram - you’d make their day. Thank you.
For more on Dramface and our funding read our about page here.
