Ardmillan 12 y.o. Whiskyheroes: Smoke Over The Craig - Brave New Spirits

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 59.8% | Chill filtration: No | Colouring: No

Special Features:

Smoke Over The Craig is a limited single-cask bottling from the Scottish Lowlands. Ardmillan is the name used for an Ailsa Bay malt that was married with a small amount of malt from another distillery and is therefore presented as a blended malt. Distilled in 2013, the whisky was finished in a first-fill Oloroso sherry barrique after maturation. Brave New Spirits bottled it at 59.8%, with the cask yielding 213 bottles. The whisky is natural in colour and non-chill-filtered.

The profile combines candyfloss and mandarin with dark raisins, ripe plums and creamy caramel. Toasted nuts, liquorice, spicy oak and dry woodsmoke give structure to the sweetness. The long, dry finish retains the interplay of sherry sweetness and smoke.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: On the nose, ripe plums and dark raisins combine with creamy caramel and a hint of toasted nuts, while a delicate smoky note gives structure to the fruit.
• Palate: On the palate, juicy mandarins and sweet caramel meet a delicate nuttiness. The smoke underscores the bold, expressive texture.
• Finish: The finish is long and shaped by spicy oak and gentle liquorice sweetness, with an elegant smoky note lingering behind.

Distillery/Bottler:

The foundation of this bottling comes from Ailsa Bay. The Lowland distillery carefully controls sweetness and peat levels to balance its sweet, smoky style. In Smoke Over The Craig, this malt is bottled under the Ardmillan name and classified as a blended malt because it was married with a small amount of another malt.

Brave New Spirits was founded in Glasgow in 2020 and operates there as an independent bottler and blender with its own bonded warehouse and bottling hall. For WhiskyHeroes, its small team hand-selects single casks and small batches. Designed in-house, the labels draw on classic action comics and reflect the character and origin of the whiskies; Smoke Over The Craig belongs to the fourth batch in the series.

Facts: