Let’s compare yesterday’s Daily Dram with a similar Ardmore 1992 bottled by Malts of Scotland. Did you know Ardmore was one of the last distilleries to abandon direct heating of the stills by coal in 2002? Nowadays indirect heating by steam is the common way of working.

Ardmore 18 yo 1992 (49,4%, Malts of Scotland 2010, bourbon barrel 5014, 185 btl.)

Nose: coal smoke again, a bit more sooty than the Daily Dram version. This time there’s slightly less vanilla, less fruits and more (burnt) grassy notes. Mineral peat. Green apples. This one seems sharper and more peaty, which is probably highlighted because the waxy notes are muted (differences are small though). Hints of iodine and heather. Mouth: really sweet again, with sugared cereals, almonds and nice lemon / lime flavours. Again more smoke, or so it seems. Liquorice. Round peat. Apples. Finish: long, very smoky with a faint herbal edge.

Subtle differences again, both sooty (rather than peaty) with sweet almond flavours to compensate. Around € 90 which is quite a bit more than what other bottlers are asking. The quality is certainly good, but I’ve made the same remark about a high price when comparing two Miltonduff 1980 a couple of days ago. Let’s hope it’s not a permanent evolution.

Score: 85/100