Ardnamurchan – Paul Launois Release 2026 (70cl, 57.4%)

Ardnamurchan Paul Launois Release 2026 is the fifth edition of the distillery's collaboration with Paul Launois, a family Champagne house in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. It is a Highland single malt distilled in March 2017 from unpeated spirit and matured in ex-bourbon barrels. Twenty-two of those barrels were re-racked into Paul Launois Grand Cru Champagne barriques for around 14 months, and two further bourbon casks joined the final vatting. It was bottled at a cask strength of 57.4% ABV in a 700ml bottle, with natural colour and without chill-filtration, in an outturn of 5,726 bottles. The nose offers peach melba, tinned peaches, toasted coconut, charred pineapple, crystallised ginger and Danish pastry. On the palate come rhubarb, bread and butter pudding, salted cashews and dulce de leche, followed by a fairly long, buttery finish with menthol.