Ardara Distillery Releases 2026 Edition of Ardara Single Malt Irish Whiskey

On Saturday 8th August 2026, The Ardara Distillery, home of Sliabh Liag Distillers, released the 2026 Edition of Ardara Single Malt Irish Whiskey, the second annual bottling of the heavily peated Donegal single malt. The release coincided with Ardara Show Day, when the distillery opened its doors for free tours and poured tastings of the new edition at the show.

Reclaiming Donegal's Smoke

The Ardara Single Malt was created to restore a style of Irish whiskey that largely disappeared a century ago. Donegal once produced a smoky whiskey, made from barley dried over burning turf, much of it distilled outside the law. When Irish whiskey turned smooth, Donegal's smoke faded from view. The project has its roots in a family recipe passed down to founder James Doherty by his grandmother, six weeks before she died, a recipe that had belonged to his grandfather, an illicit distiller in Donegal.

The first Ardara Single Malt launched in 2025 in a release of 10,000 bottles, an ambitious volume for a young distillery. According to Doherty, that whiskey has performed well in Germany, France, the UK and the global duty free market, with the distillery about to ship to the USA. The distillery, built by Doherty and his wife Moira in south west Donegal, operates three copper stills from Forsyths.

For the second edition, the release is split into two bottlings. The core Ardara Single Malt 2026 Edition is bottled at 46% ABV, while a Cask Strength 2026 Edition is bottled at 60.9% ABV. Both are made using what the distillery calls "The Ardara Method": heavily peated malt, all grain kept in throughout fermentation and into the wash still, and triple distillation. After distillation the whiskey rests in 6,000 litre Solera Vats for 72 hours before being emptied to 1,200 litres and filled into casks.

The 2026 Edition and the Cask Strength Release

At 46% ABV, the Ardara Single Malt 2026 Edition is described as opening sweet, fruity and nutty with a hint of waxiness wrapped in sweet pipe smoke. Hot beignets and poached pears arrive first on the palate before deepening into roasted coconut, almond, leather and rolled tobacco, with sweet smoke and campfire leading to a long, sweet baked apple finish. The profile aims for heavily peated but with sweet, nutty smoke rather than medicinal character.

The Ardara Single Malt Cask Strength 2026 Edition brings the same character at higher intensity, with green melon and husky citrus on the nose, followed by beignets, honeyed pear, coconut, leather and rolled tobacco on the palate. A hint of menthol carries through to a smoky, earthy finish of baked apple and raisin.

Every bottle of Ardara carries a dragonfly, drawn from the insects found around the pond at the distillery. Doherty describes the dragonfly as a symbol of the style itself: a tradition that spent generations out of sight before breaking the surface again. The 2026 Edition follows the same annual pattern established in 2025, when the distillery launched the first Ardara Single Malt on Ardara Show Day, a release covered in an earlier article on this site about Sliabh Liag Distillers' Silkie Calvados Cask Finish, a separate 390 bottle limited release in the same distillery group's portfolio.

"There is a dragonfly on every bottle of Ardara, drawn from the ones found around the pond at the distillery," Doherty said. "A dragonfly spends most of its life underwater, out of sight, before breaking the surface and taking flight. For generations, Donegal's smoky whiskey tradition was much the same: once a defining part of the place, then hidden from view as the style disappeared from Irish whiskey."

Availability

With the 2026 Edition released in August 2026, both bottlings are now in circulation. The Ardara Single Malt Cask Strength 2026 Edition is available on Spiritory.

The Ardara Single Malt Irish Whiskey 2026 Edition is available on Spiritory.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Ardara Single Malt 2026 Edition?

It is the second annual release of Ardara Single Malt Irish Whiskey from The Ardara Distillery, a heavily peated Donegal single malt made with the Ardara Method: all grain in, triple distilled, and matured with a Solera Vat step before casking.

What are the two bottlings in the 2026 Edition release?

The release includes the core Ardara Single Malt 2026 Edition at 46% ABV and the Ardara Single Malt Cask Strength 2026 Edition at 60.9% ABV, both sharing the same heavily peated character.

What does the Ardara Single Malt taste like?

The 46% ABV edition opens sweet, fruity and nutty with pipe smoke, moving through beignets, poached pears, roasted coconut, almond, leather and rolled tobacco to a long, sweet baked apple finish.

Where can I buy the Ardara Single Malt 2026 Edition?

Both the Ardara Single Malt Irish Whiskey 2026 Edition and the Ardara Single Malt Cask Strength 2026 Edition are available on Spiritory.