Ardmore 1979 DL

Overall rating
87.76/100
votes
57
Whiskybase ID
WB3506
Category
Single Malt
Distillery
Bottler
Douglas Laing (DL)
Bottling serie
The Old Malt Cask
Vintage
11.1979
Bottled
03.2001
Stated Age
21 years old
Casknumber
DL 266
Number of bottles
648
Strength
50.0 % Vol.
Size
700 ml
Barcode
5014218750300
Added on
01 sep 2008 5:30 pm
UncoloredNon-chillfilteredSingle Cask Whisky

Average value

€ 79.95

6 × in wishlist

57 × member ratings

36 × in collection

Whisky reviews for Ardmore 1979 DL

15 users have left 16 reviews for this whisky. Average rating is 87.76 points.

  1. Jackson05 scored this whisky 88 points Connoisseur

    I was was to sum up this whisky in a word, it would be modern. Nothing wrong with that at all, but it’s not a style you need to reach back in time to achieve. It makes sense Ardmore would have a similar profile for years and years, in fact it would be essential to be consistent as such a big provider for Teachers.
    • Nose
      88 88
      White ash, cigarette ash, clean distillate, modern profile, a little hessian, white sand. No problems here, but no wow factor either.
    • Taste
      89 89
      Honey, creamy, nice full oily palate. Vanilla bean ice cream, macadamia, ginger.
    • Finish
      87 87
      Honey again, vanilla, ginger, white ash, cinnamon dusting. Clean distillate. No real flaws. A good drinker, but grab a modern Ardmore for much cheaper.

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  3. the_muskox scored this whisky 87 points Expert Senior

    I tried this whisky at my favourite whisky bar, and it was immediately clear that the bottle had been open for quite a while. Still, the whisky was delicious, and it gets this score from me based on how it was when I tried it. It was gorgeous despite its flaws, in a way that points to it once being phenomenally good. Despite the obvious weakening from time in the bottle, there’s complexity, an acceptably oily texture, great structure, and a layered and delicious finish.
    • Nose
      Soft, sweet smoke. It definitely seems to have softened as the bottle has sat at a low fill level. Very distant campfire. Sea salt and chewy caramel. Fresh-baked peach cobbler, some fresh pears, and grapefruit pith. Soft floral herbs, maybe herbs de Provence. A bit of a soft minerality – rock dust and graphite.
      With two drops of water, there’s a bit more earth and a slight leathery savouriness.
    • Taste
      Whoa, this drinks much closer to 40% than 50%. How long has this bottle been open? Very soft texture, but still somewhat oily. Arrives gently with charred marshmallow, banana, dried flowers and sandalwood, then slowly building into earthy-sour peat smoke. The smoke is still gentle here but more robust than on the nose. Tar and soot, peppered grilled meat, leather, and somewhat withdrawn oak.
      The water (barest minimum added to avoid further dilution) again adds a slightly savoury note, this time very subtle tobacco, as well as some more minerality.
    • Finish
      Medium-length, with lingering oily stickiness. Peat-forward at first, with notes of machine shop, black pepper, and Montreal-style smoked meat, then softening up. More peach and burnt marshmallow, along with chocolate-covered macadamias. A hint of lemon and beach sand.
      Water adds an interesting cooked veg flavour.

  4. nallacam scored this whisky 87 points Connoisseur

    • Nose
      88 88
    • Taste
      88 88
    • Finish
      85 85

  5. Mark-E scored this whisky 87 points Connoisseur

    • Nose
      88 88
    • Taste
      87 87
    • Finish
      86 86

  6. Luigisim scored this whisky 88 points Connoisseur

    Great old style dram.

    Part of Scotch Missed tasting, Motovun, Croatia
    • Nose
      88 88
      Smoked, with hints of tobacco
    • Taste
      88 88
      Well balanced, seems lighter than its abv
    • Finish
      89 89
      Quite long with the smoke raising up softly and nicely

  7. ARDBERG scored this whisky 90 points Connoisseur

    2cl sample instenselyfruityandpeatysweetmarshmellowandsmooth. Almost Longrowesque or Ardbegesque. Reminds me somewhat of the special peaty note of OMC Ardbegs of the early seventies.
    • Nose
      89 89
    • Taste
      91 91
    • Finish
      90 90

  8. hs305 scored this whisky 90 points Connoisseur

    [March, 2019] One reviewer stated "a tad too much driven by the spirit" which is absolutely okay if he/she feels this way - but this statement clearly demonstrates that the new "modern style" of Scotch whisky is adopted by the (new?) customers.

    In the traditional Scotch world a cask should support the maturation of the spirit only and any cask influence that dominates the distillates' flavours was seen as a flaw. Nowadays many modern Scotch releases go for the cheap thrills of heavy cask impacts (extreme wooden notes and/or bold flavours of previous contents like sherry are more easily achievable in shorter maturation times than complex and balanced distillate profiles) - and often the distillate is not recognisable anymore at all. One could have such cask-driven drams much cheaper using industrial alcohol with the same casks (but then the illusion of Scotch is gone, too). Personally I do not think that any distillate's impact can be too much at all (because by definition the distillate is the whisky, and not the cask). But whoever sees this differently is right too - as there is no accounting for taste...

    ...and this dram tastes pretty fine. It is a typical medium-peated Ardmore with a delicious combo of sweet and bitter flavours in a balanced setting. The wooden notes are perfect to provide a backbone but never try to dominate (exactly what I like). So this is a benchmark example of a Traditional Scotch type dram - and it reminds me of the delicate profile of me beloved Caol Ila 25-years old...

    [October, 2019] I re-tasted this dram tonight and fully confirm my old review and score. A beautiful old Traditional Scotch that is dangerously quaffable. I emptied the bottle tonight...
    • Nose
      89 89
      The colour is pale straw and the nose offers delicious mainland peaty aromas over a sweet honey-fruity-summer floral profile. All nicely balanced and without any off-note. Later vanilla-toffee notes pop up joined by tasty spices from the woods. After more than 20 minutes of breathing the nose gets flatter but releases interesting notes of olive oils, chalk and forest soil while both the sweet and bitter aromas vanished almost completely. Ten minutes later the peaty aromas start a comeback.
    • Taste
      90 90
      The taste shows a comparable profile to the nose with bitter-sweet flavours of cold bonfires, tobacco, green tea and fruits (peaches, pears), honeys and toffee-caramel. There is a close to perfection harmony of these components and despite it is not the most complex taste it is very delicious and quaffable. Water releases more bitter peaty aromas both in the nose and on the palate and drive the dram a little out of its perfect balance - hence I like the neat dram best.
    • Finish
      90 90
      The dram arrives a little hot and nicely coating on the palate with a minor peppery feeling that is enjoyable. The finish is long and adds tasty milk chocolatey flavours and more spices to the party. No distracting drying or bitter moments to detect, these casks were bottled at the right time (by the way, high quality casks usually peak between 18 and 25 years so this is another proof of that rule).

  9. squaadgras scored this whisky 89 points Connoisseur

    • Nose
      89 89
    • Taste
      89 89
    • Finish
      88 88

  10. Erik Elixir scored this whisky 85 points Connoisseur

    Sample from Hvdree
    • Nose
      Malty, some smoke, waxy notes and oily. Some nuts, citrus, a peaty note, clean and spices - pepper. 
    • Taste
      Waxy, dusty, leather, spices, citrus - lemon and drying.
    • Finish
      Drying with spices - pepper, citrus - bitter and some peat.

  11. stefsel111 scored this whisky 88 points Connoisseur

    • Nose
      89 89
    • Taste
      89 89
    • Finish
      87 87

  12. St. Pauli scored this whisky 85 points Connoisseur

    The colour reveals that the cask was not that active. Apart from a gingery note, there are no overpowering cask influences to be detected. In my opinion, this made this whisky a tad too much driven by the spirit. Still good though.
    • Nose
      The nose is delicate and rather spirit driven to start with. Perfumed smoke, coming from dry peat, lemon, and flowers (rose and violets). Further, the malt is a bit dusty (hay) but also honeyed (tinned peach and honey). A hint of vanilla and coconut complete the nose. 
    • Taste
      Mildly sweet, on peach, honey and creamy vanilla. The peat is less present now. It's rather drying, with a full load of ginger. 
    • Finish
      Mildly peaty, rather dominated by ginger and hay. Further, mint and lemon zest. 

  13. Hvdree scored this whisky 90 points Connoisseur

    • Nose
      89 89
    • Taste
      90 90
    • Finish
      90 90

  14. Foamy scored this whisky 87 points Expert Senior

    When I first opened this bottle in 2013 it smelled pretty bad like rubber.
    Even the taste was saturated by it. Now the bottle is open for more then 6 months and I tasted it on several occasions. The last few times it really surprised me. The rubber is gone and it flourished to a very nice Ardmore. The Ardmore’s I like because they have such a nice coal smoke combined with a mineral, fruits and vanilla.
    Almost like a lightly peated apple compote.

  15. Superted scored this whisky 78 points Expert Senior

    • Nose
      80 80
    • Taste
      77 77
    • Finish
      76 76

  16. Superted scored this whisky 78 points Expert Senior

    • Nose
      rook fris turf mout
    • Taste
      stevig jodium zoet kruidig peperig vettig

  17. Furtia scored this whisky 89 points Connoisseur

    • Nose
      90 90
    • Taste
      90 90
    • Finish
      88 88

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