ARDNAMURCHAN 10 YEAR
Bottled on 17 September, 2025MASH BILL – 100% malted barley
PROOF – 93.6
AGE – 10 years
DISTILLERY – Ardnamurchan Distillery
PRICE – $103
WORTH BUYING? – Oh so yes!
I’d been eyeing Ardnamurchan on shelves for quite a while. Most of what I saw was aged some handful of years, or bottled non-age-stated. I tried their intentionally affordable blended whisky, Maclean’s Nose, and quite liked its rugged yet utterly approachable maritime character. I listened from week to week as Roy of Aqvavitae evangelized the distillery with great enthusiasm. But I held out.
Why? Simply put, so many new distilleries so little time. Also I’m not made of money. I didn’t want to put my whiskey budget toward younger scotch distilleries while they were finding their stride. Like all scotch brands, they’re imported in the US and therefore even more expensive than the already pricy American craft distilleries.
Yet one of the frequent comments on Ardnamurchan has always been how at such an early point in their efforts they were already producing at a remarkable level of maturity. Still I resisted.
But when this Fall 2025 10 Year release finally made it across the pond to San Francisco, I decided my Ardnamurchan moment had come. I was experiencing a prolonged bout of sherry fatigue and the predominance of ex-bourbon casks used for this release was appealing. And, aged a full decade, it was more certain to lack the potential rough edges of youth.
At uncorking, my eyebrows shot up so far they nearly fell off the back of my head. It was so good. Right out of the gate, I even wondered if it bested that holy water of scotch-fan scotch, Springbank. I often find Springbank so utterly perfect as to be somewhat forgettable. This Ardnamurchan 10 Year, on the other hand, offered a complexity marked by grittiness that nevertheless presented no jagged edges. Had I found my favorite new scotch?
Here we are, one week after uncorking and four pours into the bottle. These brief notes were taken using a traditional Glencairn.
COLOR – pale straw yellows with hints of light butter and gold
NOSE – salty sea air, lemon in fresh water, vanilla, beach sand, easygoing peat, apricot, peach, nectarine, a green melon like honeydew, milk chocolate, brioche
TASTE – very like the nose, amping up the vanilla, milk chocolate, and now with a more evident caramel note swirled into it; still some peach, a whiff of peat and wood smoke, all in a nice syrupy texture
FINISH – vanilla, peach, nectarine, salt, sand, oak tannin, subtle wood smoke, custard
OVERALL – maritime, orchard, and candy notes all blended nicely together, with a dry grit offset by the sweet and syrupy aspects
At once lovely and rugged, this whisky offers complexity and appeal in perfect balance. The gritty sand, salt, and oak notes add texture to the smoother sweet notes. This is what saves it from the perfection than can get a Springbank lost in the memory.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a Springbank fan. The 12 Year Cask Strength releases in particular have been quite memorable, and I do find myself hankering for those. And their Campbeltown Loch, which blends all the Springbank distilleries, offers a very approachable sip that, while lacking any maritime grit, does have its own subtle complexity to it. But Springbank’s cult status means higher prices. Ardnamurchan has certainly earned its own cult status, yet the prices remain more in reach—for now!
Another point in favor of any Ardnamurchan release is the distillery’s transparency. They understand that chill filtering and artifical color is never necessary, and the lack of these is noted on the label. Each bottle comes with a QR code that will link you to a webpage, with all the particulars about that bottle. (My bottle can be found here.) They provide details about the whole process, from barley through distillation to aging and blending.
Does this transparency itself make the whisky taste better? No. But it does stand as evidence that this is a distillery that cares to be up front, favoring integrity over more common forms of salesmanship.
As I continue to sip at this glass, I’m notcing how the various flavors swirl about. Sometimes the peaches come to the foreground. On other sips it’s all about the maritime notes. Then the vanilla and milk chocolate rush forward in a wave.
At its very approachable 93.6 proof, and with the predominance of bourbon cask aging, this will make a lovely late spring into summer sipper. It has its own brightness to match the weather. And given I live in San Francisco, where Karl the fog is likely to make an appearance at any time, rolling in from the Pacific ocean and across Golden Gate Park, the Ardnamurchan’s martime qualities fit right in.
Sláinte!
The Right Spirit 