Ardmore 10 2008 Carn Mor Rare Drams

Thanks to /u/Throzen for pouring me a dram.

Finishing up an impromptu tasting at Devoz’s place with Unclimbability, xile_, Throzen, distillasian, and smoked_herring, there was a lot of choices. It takes a certain amount of being an adult to not overdrink, not take everything put down in front of you, and also know your limit as well as not drive home after drinking over it. Also not drinking too much before your first workshop of an accounting course.

So I had to pick the dram to finish it up. Ardmore 10 2008 Carn Mor Rare Drams fit the bill, in my mind, as I’ve enjoyed a good amount of Ardmores, it was peated (also end with peat), and it wasn’t the barn burning Craigellachie beside me. This one is still at cask strength, however, it differs from other Ardmores as it was aged in ex-Laphroaig casks.

Gotta have another one of those, so let’s see how everyone’s favourite Amphibian sounding Islay affects this peated Speyside, shall we?

Price: No longer available

Region: Speyside

Cask Number: 702428

Cask Type: Refill Ex-Bourbon Barrel which previously held Laphroaig.

Distillation Date: 19/06/2008

Bottling Date: 01/11/2018

Total amount of bottles: 254 bottles

Abv: 57%

Colour: 10Y 9/4

Nose: Lime, brine, moss, icing sugar, cereal

Citrus and brine. Yeah, the Islay had an effect. Don’t get much complexity on the nose. Lots of citrus and salt, followed by the earthy Ardmore and some Speyside cereal.

Taste: Lime, potato, brown sugar, cinnamon

Look, more lime, like a bartender convention that said Fuck Lemons. Some more earth, molasses, a bit of spice. Not really doing as much as the last ex-Laphroaig one I had. It’s lighter, too easy drinking.

Finish: Peat, mulch, sweet grain, caramel, peach, icing sugar

Initially, the finish is earthy and smokey. Then it starts growing. The Speyside grain grows at first, there’s actual caramel/butter, and then some stone fruit/sugar.

The end finishes like a last-minute essay where you throw everything at the wall and hope to get part marks.

Conclusion: Finish saves this completely. It’s gone in a different direction than the other Ardmore ex-Laphroaig cask I’ve had. The different peated elements don’t mesh as well as they did in Archives, with more of the earth sticking out here.

So perhaps if you would prefer more of the Speyside peat than the Islay, this could be the answer. For me, it was a nice dram to finish out a night on. Earth heavy for all of you mulch munchers out there, glad it was saved at the end.

77/100

Scotch review #1118, Speyside review #320, Whisky review #1739