Ruby Port Barriques | 48% ABV

Score: 7/10

**Very Good Indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*A more tart, red fruity take on the already great core range.*

A New Twist

In early May a group of Ardnamurchan exciters descended upon Leith Distillery for an evening of fun and frolics with the AD/Venturer brigade. Eight unknown drams awaited.

It’s always exciting seeing folk from the distillery and this time the whole sales squad were present. Alex Bruce took the floor first to get the ball rolling, and the first dram into our faces was something entirely new, never before seen from Ardnamurchan. My mind was racing - could this be the first time we were trying a tequila cask? Given that the Mezcal Cask Release had recently launched, it was doubtful.

Funnily enough I put my foot in it later, when Calum asked the gathered to shout out what we’d like to see from Ardnamurchan. Sitting next to me was uber-dude Robert, who asked if we could see some more agave. Not using my brain I quickly shouted “TEQUILA”, to which Calum rolled his eyes and said “...well that’s, like, the same thing?” Stupid Doog.

It turned out that the first two drams of the evening were the very first examples of Ardnamurchan matured in Port. The first was the new “The Midgie” release, the inaugural release of which I adore, and the second was a single cask; both utilising Ardnamurchan fully matured in seasoned Ruby Port barriques from various bodegas.

The single cask was a new insight into what 6yo Ruby Port cask matured Ardnamurchan tastes like - I was very animated as a result, and my excitement showed when the question was asked what Ardna should bottle next. Everyone else voted for the heavily peated (very interesting), but only two of us stuck our hands up for the porter: me and Uncle Foosty.

The new Midgie features a tweaked makeup compared to the inaugural. Where the 2024 Midgie felt like an amped core range, with the peated/unpeated DNA embellished with sauternes and madeira, the 2025 Midgie features a significant bulk of Ruby Port in the mix, on top of the peated/unpeated base. A single peated sherry cask completes the recipe.

The blending of the 2025 Midgie had been a difficult process, the team said, because for the first time since they began blending their whisky, the team couldn’t find a balance for this Midgie release. It’s something I can only imagine being a frustration when, usually, the blending is fairly effortless. So there’s a question about balance, and whether they’ve found it: to be addressed later.

There’s also a new look to the Midgie for 2025, with a new character on the label. Gone is the bonnet-clad Smidge Midge collaboration, with a new and more playful character in its place, since been called Myrtle McItchy. Drawn beautifully by Arne Wern, aka Doodle the Dram, this new Midgie is more expressive and fun. On the front label of the bottle, Myrtle is seen hanging off the slash of the AD/ on the label - Alex likes to think she is dragging Ardnamurchan into the future.

*Myrtle McItchy created by Arne, Doodle the Dram*

I love this development, and mirrors the attitudes of the distillery. The Smidge collaboration was hilarious and left-field, and whisky should be fun. In recent times it’s become not fun, but Ardnamurchan are determined. With the launch of the 2025 Midgie through a video featuring Alex, Connal and Graeme courageously fighting off the west coast midge, and the development of Myrtle and her escapades, this a really engaging and fun way to explore new areas of Ardnamurchan whisky.

Visually the 2025 Midgie whisky is a good bit more red versus the 2024 Midgie. I don’t drink with my eyes, but I’m already loving this development too.

Anyway, on to the whisky, because it’s a bit of a goody.

Review 1/4 - Dougie

Ardnamurchan The Midgie, 2025 Release, 14 Unpeated ex-bourbon barrels, 12 peated ex-bourbon barrels, 25 unpeated Ruby Port Barriques, 1 Peated Sherry Butt, 48% ABV
£55 - still widely available

Score: 7/10

**Very Good Indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*A more tart, red fruity iteration on the already great core range.*

Nose

Vanilla crème brûlée. Toasted cedar. Black fruit pastilles. Black cherry. Bit of banana. Sour banana. Cherry/strawberry cheesecake. Lenor washing powder. Coriander. Tannic astringency. Tropical, fresh mint. Fresh milk?! Chorizo! Brewery/beef. Mineralic - sandy, coastal. Earthy, bonfires.

Palate

Midgie/cire but sharper. More red. Saucy. Pencils. Petrichor. Souring sides. Vinyl records in their cardboard sleeves. Paper. Lingonberry. Mineral stream. Sandy wind. Gooseberry. Digestives. Over-ripe mango. Red grapes. Coal soot.

The Dregs

I’ve really enjoyed port casked whisky in the past. The Glencadam Tawny port, the Glen Garioch White Port or the Lindores Ruby Port, each one has been very good indeed. This is no different, and with that bulk of Ruby Port swaying the Midgie over to the red side, means it falls squarely into my favourite avenue of Ardnamurchan.

Compared to the smooth, silky butteriness of 2024’s Midgie - thanks to the Sauternes, this is more tart with a big dose more red fruits - sharp raspberries or IKEA’s favourite meatball sidekick lingonberry. It’s not face puckering astringency, but it’s enough to provide a good balance of sharp/sour to the salt and sweet.

And sweet it is too - crème brûlée and tropical bananas against toffee, cedar and salty rocks. I have to say that, even though I love the 2024 Midgie because of its amped core vibe, the 2025 is edging ahead on account of the red nudge from the port.

It’s resonating with me and brings so much to the table - the peated sherry cask alongside the peated bourbon casks also grounds the whisky, giving it an earthy base. Sort of like what the peated sherry brings to the Sherry Cask Release.

I can only imagine the debate inside the blending team, as they fiddled with the ratios. It’s widely held that you’re only as good as your last gig, and Ardnamurchan have had a long string of good to great. Given the team are all whisky nerds with serious knowledge, there’s little doubt that bad whisky would never make it out from the distillery.

Objectively this is very good whisky - another amped core range with a slightly different twist. Subjectively it’s more of the glorious same from them bods at Glenbeg, and my bottle is already dwindling. Maybe 2026’s Midgie will feature something different again, and they can keep this nuanced amped core thing going. As an Ardna-ultra I’m there for it and it makes sense when you think of the range - Core, The Midgie, Cask Release, Single Casks; a simple to understand and easy to navigate range.

Balance has indeed been struck here, and I think, even if you’re typically tentative with port or wine matured whisky, The Midgie 2025 is well worth your time, especially at £55 - Very Good Indeed on the DCNSA. There’s rumour that the Ruby Port single cask will make its way into the world at some point, very soon. My radar, and wallet, are already spinning.

Score: 7/10 DC

Review 2/4 - Nick

Ardnamurchan The Midgie, 2025 Release, 14 Unpeated ex-bourbon barrels, 12 peated ex-bourbon barrels, 25 unpeated Ruby Port Barriques, 1 Peated Sherry Butt, 48% ABV
£55 - still widely available

I freely confess that I have an Ardnamurchan habit.

It occupies more space on my shelves than the whisky of any other distillery – by a significant margin – and I willingly incur the taxes of shipping, tariffs, exchange rates, auction fees and the rest that are all part of chasing scotch whisky when living in NYC.

So when the latest release of The Midgie was set loose in the UK, I bagged mine asap and waited with keen anticipation. Fortunately, I didn’t have long to wait as I’ve worked out the quickest way to get a bottle or two from Scotland to New York is via Abbey Whisky and having ordered on a Friday, it was here on the following Monday. And while I acknowledge that comes off like a plug for them, it’s more a recommendation for anyone living on the Eastern side of the US that’s looking to get stuff sooner rather than later.

Last year’s Midgie had gone down very well as a combination of Bourbon, Madeira and Sauternes casks with a single Sherry Butt added for good measure. Subsequently, I was looking forward to seeing what this year's hatch would bring forth.

As it happens, the casking this time around is an almost exactly 50/50 split of Bourbon and Port casks with another single Sherry Butt. The Port and around half of the Bourbon casks are unpeated. The single Sherry Butt is peated.

At the time of reviewing, this is my fourth assignation with it. A couple of times on my own before I placed it in a blind tasting with a couple of friends, where it did very well. Now I’m comfortably below the shoulder for this encounter, exactly a week after it was first opened.

Score: 7/10

**Very good indeed.**
***TL;DR***
*Dangerously drinkable*

Nose

First impressions are of a whisky of a higher ABV than 48%. Not off the charts, but I would have put this around 50-52%.

Plenty of fruit on the nose and it’s an interesting mix of dark fruits like gently stewed plums, slow roasted strawberries in balsamic vinegar and redcurrants perhaps. Visually I’m getting some version of a Summer Pudding before the cream has been applied. But there are also impressions of tinned fruit in syrup like peaches. Or maybe fruit with honey.

There’s also a pleasing resinous note like wood stain, and some oily rags. There’s also a delicate hint of spice; soft baking spices as opposed to peppery or hot spices.

For me, the peat doesn’t appear on the nose in any discernible way. It’s a luxurious and sumptuous introduction that makes me think of silk and velvet all at once.

Palate

Rich, silky and buttery. It coats the mouth nicely and I’d describe it as lightly viscous. It’s not syrupy for me like some PX finished whiskies can be and in this case that’s no bad thing.

There’s more heat to the spices now, definitely white pepper and maybe some chili flakes, but they don’t overpower the rich fruitiness. It’s more like the fruit has had a generous sprinkling of chili flakes over it and is mellowed as a result. Maybe a note of treacle in there somewhere too.

There’s an oaky note that’s nicely integrated and a touch of pastry. And as each taste is swallowed there’s a gloriously subtle oily smokey note that I didn’t get when the bottle was first opened. And it lingers nonchalantly.

This Midgie smokes roll-ups and rides an old Norton in a beaten-up leather jacket. And she has a really good collection of fortified wines at the oily garage.

The Dregs

Well as invasive species go, The Midgie is extremely welcome on American shores, at least as far as I’m concerned.

Ardnamurchan are single-handedly changing the image of the otherwise reviled psycho-gnat. Can you think of a single other thing associated with the Midgie that is anything remotely positive? And the end of the season and windscreens splattered with their unfortunate carcasses don’t count.

This stuff is gloriously drinkable. I may need to buy some more when it shows up on US soil by conventional means. By the way - dear international readers - this is being distributed internationally, so it may turn up near you!

Score: 7/10 NF

Review 3/4 - Ramsay

Ardnamurchan The Midgie, 2025 Release, 14 Unpeated ex-bourbon barrels, 12 peated ex-bourbon barrels, 25 unpeated Ruby Port Barriques, 1 Peated Sherry Butt, 48% ABV
£55 - still widely available

My review is not based on spending time with a 70cl bottle like Dougie, Nick or Wally. I was kindly sent a 3cl sample from Ardnamurchan, which means I only get a brief snapshot rather than the full bottle experience. I think that’s important, as a whisky can play very differently from day to day, particularly when it comes to the palate.

Depending on my current mood, what I have consumed that day, or maybe my body is fighting some sort of infection that I am not aware of from the outside, but it happens and can affect the senses. It’s also difficult to play with water and find that sweet spot for fear of drowning the sample.

I have had times in the past where I have tasted a sample and loved it, resulting in me purchasing a bottle. This has only happened once on the pages of Dramface, when I reviewed the Watt Whisky Spring 2024 outturn and scored an eleven year old Glen Moray from an oloroso cask an eight out of ten. The evening I tried the liquid, it sang to me and I purchased a bottle as soon as I could. The reality of spending time with the bottle is that it’s probably a six. It’s still a nice whisky I am happy to have on the shelf, but it’s not the banger I thought it was from the sample.

The opposite can be true also. I have dismissed bottles based on a single taste and when I have tried them again the experience has been much more positive. That’s less likely to happen as one bad experience is usually enough not to revisit that whisky again, but in the monthly blind tastings I take part in we receive 5cl samples and the first half of the bottle tasted in a line-up of five will sometimes score differently the next time I come to it days later and sample it on its own.

The best I can do is give the whisky plenty of time to breathe in the glass, ensure I don’t eat any strong flavoured foods or drinks too soon before the whisky, make sure I am feeling physically well and have a calibrator dram of something I am very familiar with, in this case a Glencadam 10. All seemed well this evening so, in we go…

Score: 6/10

**Good stuff.**
***TL;DR***
*Moreish; a sample wasn’t enough*

Nose

Buttery caramel, strawberry and cream candies with a hint of sour cherry, pineapple in syrup and ripe mango, which is a combination of aromas I haven’t experienced before with both the red fruits from the port and tropical notes from the bourbon casks coming through. I also get mint tea, fresh cut grass and Ronseal fence paint.

Palate

Very fruity and sweet with strawberry and raspberry jams. Icing sugar, vanilla cream and cherry menthol lozenges, with a background of warming - but never overly assertive - peppery spice. Milk chocolate, salt and light drying oak with the red fruits continuing into the finish, where a little cream cheese also enters and lingers for a while. There is 25% peated spirit in the mix, but I must admit I didn’t pick that up this evening.

The Dregs

A moreish dram that evaporated from the glass in no time. The nose in particular is excellent and it’s a shame those tropical notes didn’t come through on the palate, where I felt the port asserted its influence and it became a less complex experience. It would have been great to be able to have enough for two or three separate tastings, but from this small sample I think a good six is right.

Score: 6/10 RT

Review 4/4 - Wally

Ardnamurchan The Midgie, 2025 Release, 14 Unpeated ex-bourbon barrels, 12 peated ex-bourbon barrels, 25 unpeated Ruby Port Barriques, 1 Peated Sherry Butt, 48% ABV
£55 - still widely available

There’s really no need to have a fourth opinion on this, you’ve got the gist of things by now from the notes above. But I just had to stick my interfering neb in once more - ‘cause I love the idea of The Midgie.

I also had some of my last year’s wishes granted for this. I hoped they’d play around with the make up each ‘season’ - and it seems they’re doing so - and we got a new fun version of the Midgie herself, and she’s perfect.

You might recall my ‘ick’ at the thought of a repellent brand on the label of last year’s tasty whisky. In the end, it was only a small hurdle for pernickety me and I’ve loved my time with the 2024 Batch 1 release in all its sauternes and madeira loveliness. 2025’s Batch 2 (surely we can call it ‘seasons’, no?) is a completely fresh take on the Ardnamurchan theme and, since it utilises port casks, is a first for the Western Highlander’s core releases. I think I’m right in the understanding there’s never been any release from Ardnamurchan in a port cask of any kind.

Predictably - and this is a positive, but you’ll need to stay with me here - I like it less.

Pinkish hues in glasses of whisky have me glitching at first sight. I’m working on it, but it’s an affliction. For me, it betrays the likely use of wine or port casks and, from my inherent narrow-mindedness, you can hear the beep-beep of the reverse gear as I seek out something less tannic instead.

It’s not everyone’s take, it’s mine, and experience has taught me it can be done well. But when you’re sensitised to something in this way you have to let it play out, at least until something comes along to change your mind. I was hoping this might be it and, while it’s not quite a cure, I can honestly say it’s a positive salve for the symptoms.

Thankfully, there’s a little more to this Midgie than port casks.

Score: 6/10

**Good stuff.**
***TL;DR***
*Port casks present, but gratefully attenuated by familiar Ardna tones*

Nose

Bubblegum and strawberry Frutella. Dark honey; warm and earthy, a hint at a savoury edge. Fruity shades with orange peel and peach slices in syrup too. Chocolate. Charred logs, creosote and a little soot.

Palate

Round. At first a soft and relatively thick arrival brings mouth-filling sweet stone fruits and soft citrus. It develops mid-palate into a spicy delivery of cinnamon, clove and pepper. Strawberry licorice and a sourness arrives thereafter, morphing into bitter chocolate and drying fruit teas.

A splash of water helps the nose, especially the sweet fruits, but the palate balance was better at pouring strength. It takes a near-empty glass before the smokiness is apparent, for me. This is light on peat.

The Dregs

I received a 3cl sample of this from Adelphi, but I’ll keep that intact and pass it on to someone. I was always just going to go out and buy this. Just as well. It’s been noted by my peers here that this is a ‘moreish’ whisky and too easy to drink. I get that completely, but I think for me it’s from a different perspective.

It feels easy to drink much in the same way a good blend might be so quaffable; there are less peaks and troughs, less communicative-but-distracting detail and less vibrance. It’s been ‘rounded’ somewhat, almost like a blend. A very well-made blend, I’ll grant you, but a definite, deliberate ‘creation’ nonetheless.

I hope I’m making sense here, it’s a vibe; a feeling. Like the jarring extremes have been attenuated - exactly the kind of thing that’s so often sought. A palette of complementary colours, if you like, selected from a deep and varied library.

I was shooting a 5/10 here and jumping behind the sofa to hide from Doog and Nick, but I’m now four or five pours into the shoulder and I had to tap into my objectivity. I know that the thing that makes it less ‘second glassable’ for me is the port casks.

Yet I also know that lots of folk love that stuff. Those notes and hues are not faults, they are designed and, in this example, it’s done well with a canny hand. For me to knock a point off because I preferred last year’s use of sauternes and madeira is petty.

Because, exactly as I’d wished last year, this is the beauty of an annual Midgie: What will she be next year? A slightly different incarnation with a different outfit? Different shoes? A bolder tartan? Details hinting at the cask make up perhaps? Maybe she won’t be Myrtle?

And with each new season’s possibilities we have the ability to discover another take on Ardna’s remarkably agile, shapeshifter-like spirit. Future Midgies may return to bright and vibrant once more, or get dark and moody, or play up to whatever else the Glenbeg alchemists find readied and available in their waterside warehouses.

I might not love this one as much as last year, but that’s only to be expected and exactly what the fun of a playful, flexible release should be about. I love the concept, I love the artwork, I love the base spirit and I’m here for all of it.

And I’ll likely still buy next year’s as soon as it drops. Regardless of the cask makeup.

Score: 6/10 WMc

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DC

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