Ardmore Legacy
Official Bottling | 40% ABV
Score: 4/10
Some promise.
TL;DR
Not bad, but probably best saving up for an indie
Should I or shouldn’t I?
We’ve reviewed a fair amount of Ardmore here at Dramface Central over the course of our 18 months or so existence, or, ahem…maturation.
From Ramsay’s trio of indie Ardmores, Broddy’s exploration of peated vs. unpeated Ardmore, Hamish’s pairing of Ardmore with “An Orkney,” Ogilvie’s Exclusive Malts version, Dougie’s Whisky Broker edition, and Broddy’s other take on a 20 year old indie expression, it’s safe to say that the distillery has some fans around here.
But from my count, no one here has taken a look at the core range entry-level basic Ardmore Legacy. I think we probably all know the reasons, as just on paper alone, it’s the kind of whisky a lot of us perhaps entered Whisky Land with but have long since moved past.
Ardmore Legacy is bottled at 40% ABV, and is almost certainly chill-filtered with added E-150 colourant. Owners Beam Suntory haven’t developed much of a core range for Ardmore, with only this expression alongside two others as listed on their website: a 12 year old port finish bottled at 46% and non-chillfiltered, and two travel retail exclusives both also bottled at 46%.
Living in the UK and browsing specialist shops as a hobby, I’ve never come across the port wood finish, and only once saw a 20 year old official bottling. Needless to say, official bottlings of Ardmore are few and far between, with most of the distillery’s output destined for blends.
My own encounters with Ardmore have not been so extensive or in-depth as my fellow Dramfacers’ indie explorations. It’s safe to say I’ve had almost zero encounters with the distillery and its liquid, and so it was that I was shopping in my local Tesco recently and saw Ardmore Legacy on offer for the not-disagreeable price of £22. While of course realising the usually miles-wide gulf between official bottlings and indie expressions, I couldn’t help but recall the very favourable reviews of indie expressions from my fellow Dramfacers in-the-know, as I stared at the bottle on the shelf as my ice cream began to melt in my trolley.
It is in situations like this that another skirmish in the perpetually ongoing war between Sensible Drummond and FOMO Drummond commences. Each party takes a seat on either of my shoulders, looks over suspiciously at the other, plans offensives, repels attacks, circulates misinformation to sow confusion, and commences with trying to plant their respective flags in my brain wrinkles to claim victory.
Sensible Drummond has conducted a largely victorious campaign as of late. With a few lovely summer holidays under our belts, and some other life expenses, he has largely succeeded in reminding me that I do not, in fact, have a Bezos-size budget, that I have indeed bought a couple of nice bottles already the past few months, and that I have lord only knows how many unopened bottles sitting gathering dust inside the vaults at Fort Drummond. He also, without saying a word, puts his arm around my shoulder, turns my head and points at the General – Mrs. Drummond – who stands overseeing the proceedings with a gentle air of resigned exasperation.
A single-cask such-and-such from one of my Favourite Distilleries pops up on my screen? Sensible Drummond has ridden to the rescue lately, grabbing my hand just before I click “buy,” wagging his finger, and thus allowing me to save for that next nice bottle that I’m, in my heart of hearts, much more interested in. Sensible Drummond observed this Ardmore on the shelf, and carefully (indeed, sensibly) explained that I do not need it, that many, many other bottles I already own are very likely to be much more interesting than this 40%, chill-filtered, colour-added supermarket bottle, and that I can put that £22 towards something much more satisfying.
FOMO Drummond, meanwhile, simultaneously wages his counter-offensive, charging across my brain folds as if they are trenches at the Somme, and hurls his grenades at me. He points out that yes, it’s 40% etc, etc, blah, blah . . . but you haven’t tried it. Sensible Drummond is knocked sideways, slightly dizzied, but ok. Look at those 6s, 7s and 8s that Hamish, Ramsay, and Broddy have given to some of those indie expressions. They sound great! What if some of that tasty distillery signature is present in this albeit 40%-er?
Sensible Drummond is knocked down again, just as he’s getting up. You need to familiarise yourself with this entry-level, house-style before you try those indie expressions to really know Ardmore, FOMO Drummond screams through a bullhorn projecting across the battlefield, further disorienting Sensible Drummond. Finally, the battle-ending round is lobbed over the defences: it’s on offer and only £22.
I grab the bottle off the shelf, smiling at the thought of a new unknown whisky as I happily push my trolley to the checkout while my now-melted ice cream drips across the shop. Poor Sensible Drummond is taken off the field on a stretcher, bloody bandage around his head and cursing the surrender he has just witnessed, down but alive to fight another day.
Review
Ardmore Legacy, Official bottling, NAS, 40% ABV
£30 typically, £22 paid, wide availability.
The bottle nor the distillery website offers much information, but does say that Legacy is a mix of peated and non-peated malt, resulting in an overall lightly peated style.
Score: 4/10
Some promise.
TL;DR
Not bad, but probably best saving up for an indie
Nose
Sweet and savoury at the same time. Light fruits, faints smoke and light char, faint farmyard and/or grassy notes. Pleasant, but light.
Palate
Light fruits, bourbon cask-style sweetness, subtle maltiness. The peat is very light, but balanced with the fruit and malt notes; a co-star of the show, rather than the celebrity. The peat is Highland peat and therefore very different from Islay or Orkney peat. Cut from peat sources in Aberdeenshire, the differences are discernible here, with a drying, light, honeyed smokiness, with a light zestiness if held on the palate for a few seconds.
The Dregs
This is . . . fine. Not earth-shattering, not buy-a-second-bottle, not excitedly texting mates telling them they need to try it and you’ll send them a sample. It’s fine, but nothing more.
It’s very much what you’d expect from a £22 supermarket shelf 40% bottle. In other words, this isn’t a hidden gem by any stretch. Don’t get me wrong: this isn’t bad whisky. It’s well put-together, pleasant enough, and the different component flavours are well-balanced against each other, without any one overshadowing the others. This feels like about a 4/10 on our scoring system.
While to be fair it does in fact “come together” in its own way, it’s just lacklustre is all. And sipping this alongside the Highland Park 10 I recently reviewed (which was a very solid 5/10) and is notably more substantive, interesting, and weighty than this, 4/10 seems fair without being harsh.
Am I sorry that FOMO Drummond won this battle? I could have put that £22 towards a bottle I’m really looking forward to that I know will be pricey. The 2023 Bunnahabhain 12 Cask Strength (at least, I hope there will be a 2023 edition), for example, is one I’m saving my pennies for. So yeah, I could have probably tried this in a pub with a dram or two and happily saved my £22. Oh well. I can pour this for friends who aren’t too into whisky or who are interested in trying something peated, so in that sense I’m fine enough to have it in the cabinet. And, it has sparked my interest enough to try some indies.
But, if you’re asking me if you should also buy this if you see it on similar offer, I’d say: unless you really need the itch scratched, save your money and find a dram in a pub instead. That’ll probably satisfy your curiosity. It would have mine. This will likely sit in the cabinet for a while, nursed slowly not out of preciousness, but simply because I’ll be reaching past it for other things.
Sensible Drummond raises his bandaged head from his field hospital bed and grumbles “I told you so.”
Score: 4/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DD
-
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.
Other opinions on this:
and
How this bottle sparked an entire YouTube career
Got a link to a reliable review? Tell us.
