Ardmore Distillery — Highland Single Malt Whisky

Ardmore Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery located near Kennethmont, in the Highland region of Scotland. It was founded in 1898 and is currently owned by Suntory Global Spirits (formerly Beam Suntory). Ardmore is unusual for a Highland malt in that roughly half its output is peated, making it a key source of smoky character for blends and an increasingly recognised single malt in its own right.

History

Ardmore was built in 1898 by Adam Teacher, son of William Teacher, founder of the Teacher's blending firm, specifically to secure fillings for Teacher's Highland Cream — a blend in which Ardmore malt remains the principal component to this day. The Aberdeenshire site, near the village of Kennethmont, was chosen for its rail links, its proximity to good barley-growing land, and its access to water and peat.

The distillery originally ran with four stills and expanded to six in 1955 and eight in 1974, the current complement. Ardmore kept its own maltings until the mid-1970s and its own cooperage until the late 1980s, and it was one of the last distilleries in Scotland to fire its stills directly with coal, only switching to steam heating in 2001. Ownership passed from the Teacher family to Allied Breweries in 1976, then to Fortune Brands/Beam Inc. in 2005 following the break-up of Allied Domecq, and finally to Suntory, which merged Beam into Beam Suntory in 2014 (rebranded Suntory Global Spirits in 2024).

For over a century almost all of Ardmore's output went into blending, and it was not until 2007 that the distillery released its first widely available official single malt bottling, Ardmore Traditional Cask.

Quick Facts

• Region: Highland
• Founded: 1898
• Owner: Suntory Global Spirits (Beam Suntory)
• Status: Active
• Stills: 8 (4 wash, 4 spirit)

Core Range

Ardmore's core range includes Ardmore Legacy (40% ABV, no age statement, lightly peated), Ardmore Triple Wood (46% ABV, no age statement, triple-matured in American oak barrels, quarter casks and puncheons), Ardmore Tradition (46% ABV, travel retail, matured in oak barrels then quarter casks), and Ardmore Port Wood Finish (46% ABV, 12 Years Old, double-matured in bourbon barrels and European port pipes).