Ardnamurchan Sherry Cask 2024
Official Limited Release | 50% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
It walks the flavour tightrope perfectly; a whisky funambulist
Late to the party
It’s not often someone else gets a crack at a newly released whisky that hasn’t been reviewed on Dramface before. In this case, our effervescent Dougie or Steady Eddie Wally have skipped over the 2024 release of Ardnamurchan’s Sherry whisky and it just so happens that I got my hands on it.
Granted, it’s several months later than the rest of the UK market and many of you may have already tried this whisky, but I thought it was still worth my take on it.
It’s something that many of us outside the UK have to deal with: being late to the party. The constant feed of whisky releases can sometimes be daunting and ultimately numbing. Oh look, another release from so-and-so. Wow, a shiny bottle of that looks interesting. Ooh, a sale discount running for the next few days? Lemme look and see what they have.
It’s a deluge. An onslaught of temptation. A test of our anti-FOMO willpower. Never mind the jealousy associated with seeing those in the UK getting first crack at the new independent and official releases; just sitting back and hoping that local importers will get hold of a few cases for us whisky nuts to snap at like hungry baby chicks.
It’s something we must all endure to varying degrees and, as some always say, the whisky will always find us. It may not be the exact same bottle you’ve been lusting over on the web store or social media, but it will almost always be something exciting.
Take our Ogilvie for example, living in the whisky desert that is a state controlled, liquor monopoly state in the USA. He laments the shamefully poor selection of whisky, but has been absolutely enamoured in our writer’s chat with an Israeli single malt which he was able to source easier than even the most ubiquitous official or independent bottlings. Whisky finds you.
For you, it may be stumbling across a stash of dusty bottles, offering a glimpse into whiskies long gone. Maybe it forces you to explore local distilleries, perhaps finding a hidden gem? It’s all relative and something we should be actively reminding ourselves; it’s ok to be late to the whisky party.
In my case, being late was no hindrance at all to me writing this piece.
Review
Ardnamurchan Sherry Cask Release, 2024 edition, official bottling, 21,000 bottles, 50% ABV
£62 RRP and still generally available
The blockchain details read as:
21,000 bottle batch
2 Spanish oak PX butts, unpeated
6 Spanish oak Oloroso butts, unpeated
10 reracked hogsheads, unpeated
13 Spanish oak Oloroso butts, peated
Most of the distillate is 2018, with a portion of the batch coming from unpeated 2019 stocks. So this is 5-6 yo whisky.
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
It walks the flavour tightrope perfectly; a whisky funambulist
Nose
Cool and coastal. Fall time creeping damp humidity in a forest. Red jamminess. Swedish berries (the candy). Fruit leather. Teriyaki beef still in the marinade bowl. Faint dry woodiness, like sawn birch.
Overall not expressive, but nor does it burn. A quiet nose then. Retronasal really helps unlock the nuances here.
Palate
Big and bold but not bitey. Proper smoked maple pepper bacon. Damp wood. Red fruit leather and red jam again. Raisins and unsalted nut mix. Burst of a fruity espresso once in a while. Tickle of pepper and dry woody smoke. Hard rock candies. This is grubby sherry (as our very own Nick calls it), not the clean, bright and fresh stuff other distilleries are using. From a baking analogy, it’s like comparing dark molasses to fancy molasses. In a veritable sea of bright sherries, this stands out for its uniqueness, much akin to my deep seated affinity for Millstone.
The Dregs
This is good whisky but it’s not mind-blowing. A good on-the-shelf drinker that is quite ubiquitous. The peat influence is light enough that you won’t offend the unpeated folks, while also having some detectable peat throughout.
The sherry influence also walks the tightrope, providing a balanced affair between the sweeter PX sherry, nutty Oloroso, and reracked hogsheads. I’m also thankful for the lack of vanilla here. It is a distinct change from the ubiquitous American oak seasoned sherry casks and the Spanish oak brings a lovely balance with underlying spice and eschews the unnecessary sweet vanillin hit.
This is all about balance and - a quick Google search of a person who walks tightropes - the word funambulist pops up. It’s a perfect word for this whisky, and after a quite fortuitous sample sharing of the 2023 bottling amongst a few Colonials that occurred after I penned most of this review, this word works perfectly with the thoughts of other Dramface Colonials.
By coincidence, the arrival of this 2024 Sherry release was accompanied by the 2025 Madeira and the official 10yo hitting my market. Naturally, I snagged one of each. While I’ve yet to crack the ten, I do agree with Wally and Dougie’s scoring of the Madeira (7/10) and side-by-side with this Sherry release, the Madeira absolutely sings and I’d give it a 7 as well. Thus, I feel confident giving this a “Good Stuff” 6/10 score and also confident that you won’t find any faults with this whisky.
PS: if the Sherry release is a small-batch core range release, boy o’ boy do I hope the Madeira release is an annual release as well. I adore that bottle, and the Paul Launois too. Well done Ardnamurchan in establishing a varied core range rather than a singular core bottling. Let’s hope they can keep these annual releases going.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. BB
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