The worlds of Scotch whisky and Japanese whisky meet in America as Ardray makes its U.S. debut.
Bringing the terroir of Scotland together with the precision and artistry of Japan, the award-winning Suntory blending team brought together complex whiskies to celebrate the wonderful attributes that make scotch special.
Ardray’s journey began with a vision. Calum Fraser, Beam Suntory’s Chief Blender for Scotch, worked with Suntory’s blenders, to bring this to life. Calling on blend styles of the past when fewer, more characterful malts were blended to create whiskies of distinction, complexity, and depth, Ardray intertwines the past and the future.
With inspiration drawn from The Father of Japanese Whisky, Suntory’s founder Shinjiro Torii, his journey now comes full circle. A hundred years ago, inspired by traditional Scottish whisky, Torii-San envisioned a Japanese approach to create a whisky that would suit the delicate palate of the Japanese. With this blend, we honor Torii’s quest, from a reinterpretation of Scotch for the Japanese palate to Ardray.
Drawing from just a handful of Scotch distilleries from Beam Suntory and their partners at Edrington (owners of The Macallan, The Glenrothes and Highland Park), this is a blended whisky that captures the role of terroir and the production traditions of Scotland’s distilleries that define each of their unique spirit character.
“In creating Ardray, we have combined an exceptional selection of the very best Scotch whisky has to offer with the inspiring talent of Suntory’s blending team to create something new, refreshing and exciting,” said Calum Fraser, Beam Suntory’s Chief Blender for Scotch. “The time, care and attention to detail taken to source both malt and grain whiskies from some of Scotland’s most noted distilleries has allowed us to explore hundreds of blends of Scotch malt and grain whiskies to achieve Ardray’s optimum balance of multi-layered flavors. Driven by the desire to ensure the true beauty of this blend is greater than the sum of its parts. Ardray promises a rich and complex taste, with a distinctive harmony of flavors: a mild, gently floral, and citrusy fruitiness, with a vanilla custard creaminess and a rich, silky mouthfeel and lengthy aftertaste that is unmatched.”
Presented in a bespoke bottle each marked with the year of release, the artwork of artist Lia Melia adorns each one, capturing Scotland’s raw beauty. Its textured rippling pattern representing malt and grain highlights two fundamental ingredients in Scotch whisky. The feel of the glass bottle takes after the free-flowing water of Scotland’s streams and rivers, and the patterns made by the wind blowing across barley fields.
Ardray Blended Scotch Whisky is bottled at 96 proof, is non-chill filtered and retails for $85.
