DEMAND for the first ever spirit to be released by the Ardnamurchan Distillery has outstripped its initial production run by three to one.
Adelphi, the independent Scotch whisky bottler which opened the West Highlands distillery in 2014, had limited production of its maiden spirit to 2,500 bottles. However the company said it has received orders for 7,500 bottles – in spite of the Ardnamurchan Spirit 2016 AD being too young to be legally called Scotch whisky. A spirit must be distilled in Scotland and aged for at least three years before it can be legally sold as Scotch.
Alex Bruce, who heads Adelphi and Ardnamurchan, trailed the launch last month. He told The Herald that the owners’ faith in the quality of liquid being produced had given it the confidence to introduce a spirit before its first Scotch whisky comes out, which is likely to be around 2021.
Mr Bruce said yesterday: “While it’s not unusual for there to be a healthy amount of interest in our whisky, the demand for our new Ardnamurchan Spirit was exceptionally high. We’ve produced 2,500 bottles but we could have easily sold three times that amount.”
Mr Bruce said the 2016 AD has been vatted from selected casks which have been maturing in Ardnamurchan since production began two years ago. It arrives on the cusp of a milestone year for Adelphi, which began its current incarnation as a bottler of rare malts in 1992.
Mr Bruce noted: “Approaching our 25th year of bottling the finest that Scotland can offer, we are delighted to be playing our part in this golden era for the industry. To be able to establish, and be part of, a brand-new distillery is something our dedicated team are extremely proud of.
“Founded on absolute transparency and traceability, our careful production and maturation techniques have allowed us to capture and bottle this unique flavour profile well ahead of our original plan.”
The distillery, located in Glenbeg on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, is powered by locally-sourced renewable energy. Much of the barley used in the production process is grown on Broomhall farm next to the Adelphi bottling facility in Fife.
The launch of the AD 2016 spirit comes shortly after Mr Bruce helped select the malt for the latest product for Fusion Whisky, the new Scotch business led by industry veteran David Moore alongside directors Jim Millar and Graham Langley. The Kincardine is a blend of Scotch and Indian single malt whisky.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here