A rare Single Malt bottling of Ardlair Single Malt with a remarkably smooth character.
Alexander Murray is an independent bottler founded by Steve Lipp in 2004. The company is named after his great uncle who inspired Steve’s love of Malt Whiskies, giving him his first taste many years ago. And although Alexander Murray operates out of California these days, they focus on Scottish Single Malts with an honest passion to search and find the rare casks that make up their signature blends and special edition releases.
Alexander Murray got their hands on a selection of hogshead barrels distilled in 2010 — that didn’t find their way into a blend. Since Ardlair (also called Ardless on occasion) Single Malt releases are few and far between, they knew that this was a special opportunity to introduce Whisky fans to the special charms of Ardmore’s sweet little sister dram. Alexander Murray Ardlair 9 Year Old 2010 is an independent bottling with a sweet and nutty sipper with a soft palate in the Highland style. It goes down so smoothly that you can get lost in it for hours.
Smartass Corner:
Ardlair and Ardmore are the same distillery. Although located in the Highlands, Teacher’s rebuilt the facility in 1989 to give them a more consistent supply of peaty-smoky Single Malts for their blends. The distillery spends most of the year making peated Whisky (Ardmore) and the rest making sweeter, non-peated (Ardlair). Since they are the same distillery, they can even blend the two styles and call it a Single Malt.