Price: $165
Purchased From: Copper and Oak
ABV: 59.2%
The 2025 Ardnamurchan Heritage Barley release has been made using Golden Promise barley – not the only release from Ardnamurchan using this barley, but a first for me in trying it. Also, being Ardnamurchan, a simple scan of the QR tells me all I need to know. I really love the transparency they provide and wish a lot more distilleries would adopt this.
Bottled on September 2nd 2025 and bottle 784 of a total 10,290. It also shows, by my count, a total of 42 ex-Bourbon barrels made up this release, all being filled with unpeated spirit in 2018. Although a NAS release, the maturation details would make this 6 or 7 years old depending on when the youngest barrel was filled. And of course being Ardnamurchan, it goes without saying it’s non-chill filtered and natural colour. I also believe this has been bottled at cask strength.
Nose
Quite herbaceous with a slight citrus note. Beeswax, green tea and lemon peel. Also notes of sourdough and rye.
Taste
Oily and viscous; such a great mouthfeel! The citrus transfers from the nose to the palate. Along with cereal notes – baked oats, raw barley, Arrowroot biscuits. I found the finish medium, bringing out cashews and Brazil nuts. Water is a must and opens everything up. It also brings out those saline and mineral notes a lot more, and that’s what I love most from this distillery.
Conclusion
This is an excellent release and very different to what I’ve been drinking lately. I also think it’s good value all things considered and there is still good availability in retailers as I’m writing this. It’s quite an unrefined dram (but in a good way); there’s a great range of flavours but they’re laid out bare, so to speak. It also allows the distillery’s spirit to shine through quite well. If someone has never tried Ardnamurchan, I wouldn’t be recommending this to them as the first bottle they try – their first 10-year-old release is much better for this.