Ardnahoe 5yo Inaugural
Official First Release 2024 | 50% ABV
Patience
My inbox is already a scary monster, I try not to sign up to unnecessary mailing lists. But so impatient was I to snag this first release from Islay’s newest distillery, the lure of getting my eager hands on it a couple of days earlier had me happily handover my credentials. Due to appear on the 10th May, with a sign up to Ardnahoe’s online society, I could order on the 8th. Nice email harvesting Hunter Laing.
After all, for me, this is the most anticipated of the new releases since 2018, when, after teasing malt fans for years, Daftmill finally appeared. While the Fife distillery was releasing its first summer batch, Ardnahoe were putting the finishing touches to its hilltop eyrie-style distillery on Islay’s north east coast.
Other announcements were already myriad in 2018; re-openings, new whiskies, new distilleries, whisky was back on the up-and-up and, as the investments flew in, things were well into the quickening stage.
Glengyle and Kilchoman were up and running with gusto and plenty of releases out there, along with a few others such as Wolfburn and even an Ailsa Bay. Since these nascent 21st century stories, the fire-hose of new distillery announcements has gushed forth with a palpable sense of renaissance; the future bright with amber.
Thanks to the sign up, we were able to skip the queue so cheaply. So, roll around May 8th, I was not the only one eager to grab an early bottle of the latest ‘Ardna’ direct from the source.
Almost inevitably, their website floundered. I logged off; greyed-out ‘buy now’ buttons and delayed page loading frustrated me; I settled myself and stepped back. Confident in this huge-scale release, I decided to display a little patience.
After all, Ardnahoe has been patient, waiting more than five years before releasing a product, and we’re grateful to see that confident ‘5’ front-and-centre on the bottle label. But it’s perhaps not quite as patient as they at first intended to be. For many, this release is actually a little ahead of schedule, being released at the earlier end of their initial estimations.
I was fortunate to interview the Laings back in 2018. Around the time the hand-wringing and stress of the distillery build was coming to an end, and shortly after Jim McEwan departed his role in the set up of the project, I was able to sit with them and fire a few questions. Stewart sat in the centre, with sons Scott and Andrew flying formation whilst fielding most of my queries. Only when I asked a few saltier questions about future whisky lochs and rising prices, did Stewart shift a little and interject with his own perspectives.
Dismissing the risk of another whisky loch by highlighting the potential from yet-to-be-unlocked future markets of affluent, younger generations seeking quality over quantity, he reasoned that their whisky wouldn’t be ready as a single malt until five, six, or perhaps even seven years - and not before. With calm relief in their accomplishments, all three displayed an aura of ‘no rush’. They’d finished the tricky construction operation, thereafter we joined them in the waiting room.
While waiting, we’ve all had time to ponder what they’ve actually achieved with Ardnahoe; it’s quite profound. I think the best way I can convey this is to ask you to place yourselves in their position, back in the planning stages. Grab a piece of paper and figure out what you yourself might design - if you were given the opportunity to create your own malt whisky distillery, from scratch, with all restrictions removed. I’ll suggest your plan could end up looking pretty close to Islay’s Ardnahoe.
In terms of scale, perhaps we’d like it to be large enough to be significant but small enough to be agile. We’d probably be tempted to make peated and unpeated malt, with slower fermentation, in wooden washbacks no less, and slower distillation too; old school style. While we’re at it, we’d probably throw in worm tub condensers (since no one has placed cost restrictions on our imagination, right?) and we’d display them so all of our visitors could be greeted by them on arrival.
Visitors! Of course, we’d want to make the distillery itself a spectacle with a breathtaking outlook and a convenient layout to welcome lots of eager whisky folk, with same-level easy access for all, and we’d want to be able to feed them and sate them with a great selection of malt whisky - not just what’s made on site; since trying that is a given. We’ll front it with a well-stocked shop of all kinds of whisky as well as tasteful branded merch.
Yes, a whisky botherer's dream. Why not? Now, finally, let me ask you honestly, truthfully - where would you build it?
A few of us may prefer another location, but if you screwed your business head firmly on I bet you could convince yourself to join the majority and plonk it on Scotland’s Whisky Island.
Logistics and infrastructure be damned, that kudos-laden strap-line of “Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky” and all its implicit trappings are just so alluring. So, we’d also like our plans to have minimal environmental impact, given that the reports of ever-diminishing resources over there are beginning to make the island appear as if it’s a distillery Petri dish.
So what we’re saying here is that Ardnahoe is the closest thing to a start-from-scratch, close-to-perfect, whisky botherer’s dream scenario. All that’s needed is for the whisky to be made well and taste good. And so, in 2022, I was once more able to visit and try what was, by that time, legally whisky.
Amongst friends, I sipped from a sample drawn directly from a bourbon cask at three years old. I’ll caveat this by reminding everyone I was sipping directly from a cask in the warehouse it was matured in, steeped in all the romance that that may entail. So, yes, after the initial dumbfounded silence that followed that sip, a single word of such genuine delight and surprise was uttered skyward; a word that Dramface editors will not allow me to print, but you know what it is.
Our host for this memorable moment was distillery manager Fraser Hughes. “That should be on our first tasting notes!” he joked, as all of us stood staring at our Glencairns. It was gorgeously tropical and bright, thick, and viscous. I wanted to steal some, but there was no chance we’d leave the distillery with anything more than a memory.
I did enquire if the cask they were allowing folk to sip from was a ‘golden cask’; hand-picked to display the liquid as good as it could be, but this claim was dismissed as it simply being the cask they opened to celebrate the spirit’s third birthday; as it became legally whisky. I’m still sceptical, but there’s no doubt it was already quite beautiful. And so, with more anticipation built, a little more patience was required.
True to the original plan, they waited to release a five year old. There will be older liquid in there as the Ardnahoe spirit has been flowing since October 2017, but the bottle bears an age-statement of five years old. Great to see. This also means that there could be seven year old whisky available to them later this year* [edit: spirit was first run in 2018, six year old malt will be available from October 2024.] How time flies.
With the memories of that cask sample still vivid, the bottle stayed sealed long enough only to grab the few photos you see here. From passing the Wally whisky pit threshold to being sipped was less than an hour. Let’s change the title of this piece to “Impatience’.
Review
Ardnahoe 5yo, Inaugural Release, 2024, 70,000 bottles globally, 50% ABV
£70 direct & wide availability
In the end, I succumbed to one of the myriad of WhatsApp messages flying around with links to order a bottle from a source other than the, at the time, faltering direct website. Suggesting they had stock available for same-day shipping, I ordered from Loch Fyne Whiskies at the retail price of £70. In the end, they didn’t ship for the next-day delivery day as suggested, but the bottle did arrive on the 10th; launch day! Good job.
This was a lot better than the 2-3 weeks being suggested to everyone who did wait patiently for the official site to sort out its glitches. I really hope that’s a cover-all clause and they’ll be shipping much, much quicker. A 2-3 week shipping time for a planned launch is blunderous. It’ll surely take the sheen off the sharing impact for many. Either make whisky or sell whisky. For those that try both - do it well or don’t bother. This is a surprise to hear from a company that’s been selling whisky for aeons. Perhaps the set up is different for this scale of release, but I sincerely hope those of you who took the plunge are not left waiting.
Share in the comments below if you bought directly, and how long you waited to take delivery.
Nose
Boof! Not expecting that, a big hit of soot and peat smoke; earthy and warm. It fills the room just from the bottle. This is Ledaig and Ardbeg and the thickest of Ardmores. It’s much smokier than I remember the samples being - not a bad thing at all - but I rest the glass and come back later. Returning only to drink and enjoy, without taking written notes at first; the neck pour is a surprise.
Two days later, I take notes in the early morning, I’m struck by how much it reminds me of Ledaig. I try it alongside their 10yo, only for this malt to brighten alongside the bottle from Tobermory. Here goes:
A grassy(?) soot and a warm wood smoke, charred logs, sea shells and tidal-washed rocks. Thick-set honey, chilli chocolate, dark cherries, orange rind (if you’ve ever fiddled around trying to make one of those candles from an orange peel and pith - they never work; but that smell of singed orange rind is here), caramelised brown sugars, cooked apples and white pepper.
Palate
Deeper and darker than anticipated; a good mouthfeel but not what you’d call particularly thick or viscous. Memories play tricks maybe, or the use of sherry casks have changed the mouthfeel a little? In any case it’s still mouth-coating, just not as unctuous.
The initial burst of campfire, soot and smoke subsides to share burnt apples and cinnamon, a creamy custardy-ness that leads you along the sherry trifle route; booze-soaked sponge fingers, red berries, grated dark chocolate and peach slices. A little water works well too, brightening that difference between this and the Ledaig to reveal a sage note and lighter lemon citrus notes. The finish is long and warming. Very satisfying.
The Dregs
I’ve had time to adjust to this. It’s quite a departure from that memory I have of the warehouse sample I enjoyed. While it is in no way timid, it does feel a little ‘safe’. Yet, it makes sense that it’s so.
This is a large-scale outturn of 70,000 bottles and there’s clearly judicious use of sherry casks to add to the depth and richness so clearly on display. While this is not a sherry-forward bottling, neither is it bourbon; it’s balanced. I think that’s where my initial surprise lies. It’s designed for as many to love it as possible.
I’ve settled with it over the weekend and I’ve come to really appreciate the weight and ‘completeness’ of it. This is ridiculously impressive for a first release; it is deceptively ‘ready’ for its young age and will compete well on a level playing field with any other smoky Islay release and so many others. Still, I’m looking forward to a more bourbon-forward release which, in my nostalgia-laden dreams, might highlight the fruit and brightness of the spirit while preserving some of that delicious mahoosive-ascending-lyne-arm-fights-worm-tub texture I have so firmly fixed in my memory.
I probably need to grab another. I don’t feel guilty, there’s 70k bottles out there. But as I headed to a favoured retailer I was surprised to hear they don’t stock anything from this producer, but do stock Douglas Laing. Weird. I wonder why? Anyway, I digress. There’s plenty of this around.
I really hope Hunter Laing releasing their inaugural with such a large-scale outturn pays them dividends. After this faith and investment in the future, they deserve it.
The bottle presentation is perfect to my eye; some are reminded of Egyptian-themed hieroglyphs, but I quite like its deliberate, clear, sharp and tapered stature. This unique aesthetic is matched by fully natural specs too. The higher ABV helps to keep things big and robust, and a confident age-statement is to be applauded; all boxes are ticked.
£70 isn’t exactly cheap, but for an inaugural there’s a general sigh of relief that they didn’t abuse their sense of anticipation and pull a RyeLaw. Still, for follow on releases, I’d like to see a sharper pencil, of course. Maybe I’m naive but they could start by ditching the box. It’s nice and all, but I wonder if it’s needed these days. I took a photo or two of mine, but it’s already in the recycling. Tissue is the new box.
I find it uncanny that this came along within days of the Douglas Laing Strathearn, which I wrote about mere days ago. I declared it to be perhaps the best inaugural since Daftmill. It really is good; scoring a 7/10 and making me a fan of the tiny Southern Highland distillery. Ardnahoe and Strathearn are as far from each other on scale as they are on geography and flavour profile, so comparison is not fair. But two inaugurals from two sides of the Laing heritage in as many weeks, I can’t be the only one thinking the same way.
However, as fickle as it makes me seem, this peat bomb pips it for me. Based on anticipation, yes, but also on excitement, presentation, value and relief of the delivered product. A new Islay malt is rare indeed and it would seem everything has come together for this first from a distillery where we really felt no expense was being spared.
This is a crafted, widespread and loud announcement to the whisky world that they’ve arrived, and I really hope it’s welcomed and built upon. In that light, and under the Dramface scoring guide, it deserves to be bumped up from a 7/10 “Very Good Indeed”, to an 8/10 “Something Special”.
I look forward to a nice ex-bourbon expression that can give me a glimmer of that warehouse epiphany in 2022, but until then I’ll learn how to be just a little more patient.
Good job Ardnahoe. Yer new whisky is braw.
Score: 8/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. WMc