MALT CLUB | DINNER WITH ARDNAMURCHAN
Out on Scotland’s wild West Coast you’ll find Ardnamurchan Distillery, tucked away on its namesake peninsula. It’s about as remote as it gets, sitting between neighbours like Talisker up north and Tobermory down south. Their whiskies are ‘West Highland’ style: coastal, complex, and balanced. They’re not overboard on smoke and peat either, which makes them approachable whether you’re a longtime whisky fan or just getting into it.
Tonight’s lineup is hosted by Connal MacKenzie, who’s literally just landed for his tour down under. He’s pouring six single malts across both peated and unpeated styles, and bringing plenty of personality with it. At one point he casually drops, “East Coast is shite,” which gets a solid laugh - hinting that tonight is not going to be a boring tasting.
Connal breaks down what makes the West Coast style tick - sea air, local ingredients, and a real sense of place. And at Ardnamurchan, they’re all about the details. While some distilleries say barley doesn’t really matter, here it’s the opposite: everything matters. From the local water and peat to the cask selection, it’s all combines to shape their signature style.
As conversation flows, we get into whisky nostalgia - like how iconic ‘1970s Macallan’ was, and why barley played a bigger role than people give it credit for. Ardnamurchan currently uses the Laureate barley strain, but they also produce a special release with Golden Promise—a heritage variety from the post-war era. It’s more expensive and lower-yielding, but brings serious character. In a market busy with nostalgia releases, here is a throwback done right.
Tonight sees the drinks specifically matched to the food. A welcoming platter sees smoked salmon, charcuterie, local cheese, smoked olives, toasted nuts, crudités with koji butter and focaccia made with local durum wheat. The tastes here offer a variety of fat, salt, nutty and sweet flavours to go with the flavour profile of the first two - AD and Heritage Barley Release.
The aromas of the classic West Coast single malt - AD show citrus, almond, apricot and fig. A touch of smoke and a long, drying finish. AD Heritage Barley Release sees that unpeated Golden Promise malted barley, and arrives with an oily creaminess and liquorice, sesame and apple danish flavours. At 59.2% it has a little heat to it to - adding a drop of water smooths it out.
A main course of Lamb ribs layer on roasted, charred, toasted and smoked notes - echoing the whisky beautifully. Add in anchovy toum, black garlic, smoked jalapeño, miso honey, citrus and whipped feta, kombu, vibrant herbs and a masterful touch of roasted barley. Alongside the next two glasses it’s a triumph of flavour matches.
The Ardnamurchan Midgie honours Scotlands most infamous creature the Highland Midge - a mini sandfly. The peninsula is “chronically bad” for this pest. The whisky is a split of 75% unpeated and 25% peated spirit. The table offers a suggestion of ‘Mousetrap cheese toastie’ as a description for this new release. I’ll add porter beer, red liquorice, sarsaparilla and red berries to that.
The Sauternes Cask Peated hails from a limited batch of just 8,460 bottles. Whilst it is a splendid match to the lamb, I saved a sip or two of this to go with dessert as well. A waxy texture reveals honey, pineapple, white chocolate and preserved lemon that coats the tongue and with the 50% ABV it prickles nicely.
Chef proposes two dessert courses - the first is a burnt Basque-style cheesecake with roasted NZ-grown black tea infused into a sweet-savoury "cheese course" dessert served with the Sherry Cask 2024 Release. Matured in casks that have held rich Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherries. It is probably the softest whisky of the night, showing notes of prune, plum, raspberry, biltong and salted caramel.
Perhaps the pinnacle of the food ends with "After Dinner Mint" (toasted seaweed and peppermint) ice-cream as we finish with the Cask Strength Release. Heather, pear, ginger, black olive, oyster shell and eucalyptus with a plush butterscotch finish. A very ‘complete’ style that is an ideal way to finish tonight - and any night.
Glengarry carry a wide range of Ardnamurchan whiskies - beyond what was on show tonight, available here.
