Ardnamurchan: Mezcal Cask (Scottish Highland Single Malt Whisky: 55% ABV)
Visual: Pale grain color. Fast thick streaks from the spirit.
Nose: Viscous, jelly like feel to the aroma (somehow). Grassy. Soot and ash. Wet moss. Smoked beef. Crushed peppercorns. Menthol Water makes grassier and the smoke smoother.
Body: Strong alcohol. Lime. Smoked beef. Dry fudge. Slight fatty butter. Water makes smooth and lightly oily. More fatty butter. Apricot. Subtle cherries.
Finish: Peppery. Choc toffee. Smoked meat. Cake sponge. Fatty butter. Fudge. Water adds lime. Makes more oily. Grassy. Apricot.
Conclusion: So, what does a mezcal cask finish add? That is a big question, I only recently tried mezcal and enjoyed it, generally it felt kind of like if they made peated tequila, and the Islay whisky aged mezcal I tried went down a treat.
So now we have a mezcal finish peated whisky. Does it work as well going the other way?
Well the mezcal is more subtle in its influence than I imagined – I guess as the whisky is moderately peaty, meeting smokey mezcal they enhance each other but it is not obvious where one ends and the other begins. What the mezcal most obviously brings is a very mossy, grassy character, a savoury note that really grounds everything well.
The trade off is slightly less of the very complex base character that I enjoy is showing. I love how complex Ardnamurchan can be, even when had quite young, and while there is a lot here it has lost a lot of the more subtle notes. What it has is an enormously viscous and chewy mouthfeel when had neat at its high abv. It is surprisingly drinkable neat considering its younger years and massive abv. With water fatty butter feel and taste comes out with subtle fruitiness amongst the grassiness and smoked meat.
Not my favorite Ardnamurchan – the base house character deserves to be shown in all its full glory, but this is still very good. The grassiness and the peat give an almost Campbeltown style around the Ardnamurchan spirit which is deliciously different. A peaty but more savoury touched drop, despite me preferring other Ardnamurchans I am still blown away how easy drinkable this high abv drop is.
Background: Had to google for information on this, as not much on the bottle, according to masters of malt this is 30ppm, was distilled in 2017 so probably sevenish years old as it was a 2025 release, of which 20 months were in a mezcal cask. One of 5000 bottles. If any of that is wrong blame masters of malt, I just ripped them off. Been really enjoying Ardnamurchan, especially as it gets a tad older and they experiment with more fancy releases. As mentioned in the notes only recently tried mezcal and enjoyed, so was fascinated by what this may be like when I saw it in Independent Spirit. Music wise wanted some big and boomy to match sooo, Noctule: Wretched Abyss it was!