Review #198: Trader Joe's Ardmore 2008 10 Year
Every holiday season Trader Joe's has a scotch release. Last year was a Glen Morey 14. This year it looks like there are two: Ardmore 10 ($30) and a Sherry finished Glenallachie 13 ($48). All their bottlings are done by everybody's favoritef never over 40% abv IBI Alexander Murray. I almost bought both but $3 more than the OB Glenallachie for 1 more year and 6% less booze seemed out of line. Traditionally, these are "nice" bottles for the average man, not meant to excite enthusiasts.
Ardmore is one of my favorites for IBs but they are maddeningly inconstant.
Color - Burnished
Nose - Lapsang tea, seashells, key lime, cereal, raw anjou pears
Palate - Pears, honey, malt, 7-Up, pepper
Finish - Medium - Spent fireworks, honey, grapefruit, ginger
Overall - 7 - This was better than I expected for sure. The citrus, smoke, honey and malt flavors tie together enough to keep it from falling out of balance. It is not complex or delicious, but it is more than potable. If somebody was looking for a mildly peated entry level dram at a cheap price, I think they would be satisfied. However, I think most enthusiasts would not be impressed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Rating system is price influenced as it is based on my shopping decisions when buying a bottle.
10 Best in Show
9 Great Dram for Special Occasions
8 Worthy of consistent spot in my collection
7 Worth picking up a bottle if in the mood
6 I would buy a bottle if it went on sale
5.5 I really enjoyed but it will never be priced at where I would buy a bottle
5.5 I really enjoyed but it will never be priced at where I would buy a bottle
5 I would drink it happily if offered
4 I would drink it if offered on the rocks
3 Maybe some soda will make this potable
2 I'll Pass
1 Toilet cleaner
Inclusive Ratings
Overall 6.1
Standard Deviation 0.91
Skew 0.66
Kurtosis -0.16
Comments
Post a Comment