Today, I’m looking at two independently bottled Ardmores from very different points in the distillery’s history. The first is a 2009 vintage bottled by The Whisky Agency in 2026 after 16 years in a Port cask, while the second is a 40-year-old 1985 Ardmore from Whiskyland / Decadent Drinks, drawn from a marriage of two refill hogsheads and bottled in 2025. On paper, it looks like an uneven contest: a relatively young, wine-cask-driven Ardmore against a much older whisky shaped by comparatively gentle refill wood. Age alone, however, rarely decides the outcome. The question is whether the younger bottling’s energy and cask influence can match the depth and maturity of the 40-year-old.
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