It was presented at the Lindores Whisky Fest last weekend and I heard some discussions about the price. Many people wondered how a 20 year-old whisky could be worth € 225, but remember sherried Ardbegs are thinly scattered. Douglas Laing released a 1991 refill cask earlier this year and that was rather scandalously priced at € 450. So yes, it is expensive but relatively cheap at the same time. Ardbeg is not selling casks to independent bottlers any more, so I’m afraid the times of affordable medium-aged sherry cask Ardbegs are now officially over!

Ardbeg 20 yo 1991 (48,4%, Malts of Scotland for Hotel Bero 2011, sherry hogshead #MoS 11003, 240 btl.)

Nose: balanced nose with excellent notes of old ashes and tar on the one hand and rounded, chocolaty notes on the other hand. Sweet almonds and rhubarb compote. Figs. Lovely tobacco leaves. Old leather. Relatively soft iodine and hints of camphor. Complex, not extremely big (which is a good thing – it’s not over-sherried nor over-peated) and quite brilliant. Mouth: starts rich and oily with sweet peat smoke. Again some almonds, now mixed with dried fruits and lemon drops. Some herbal notes. The smoke grows stronger, the soft tar shows up again. No brute forces here, it’s all about integrating the different flavours. Finish: long on dried fruits and smoke with a softly coastal edge.

The sherry complements the whisky very well, and the harmonious qualities might actually justify the price in my opinion. Available at the Hotel Bero for € 225.

Score: 91/100

Ardbeg 18 yo 1975 (43%, Signatory Vintage 1993, cask #2464-67)

Nose: gentle start with mellow peat and a softly honeyed sweetness. Then it takes off in two different directions. There’s a medicinal / maritime side, quite nice, with seaweed, antiseptics and menthol. The other side is lemony but also a little fragrant and flowery. Overall very good but maybe not stellar like other 1970’s Ardbeg. Mouth: a bit too soft. Lemony and oily. Smoke, some earthy peat. Picks up strength but also less impressive notes, a mix of bitter oranges and soap. Bugger. Not as bad as Bowmore 1980’s kind of soap, but not what we were expecting either. Finish: rather long and warm, but by now I can’t focus on anything else but the soapiness.

One of the least impressive Ardbegs I’ve ever had. The nose saves it from a 70’ish score.

Score: 81/100

Ardbeg Alligator (51,2%, OB 2011,
Committee release, around 10.000 btl.)

Nose: it shows all the power of Ardbeg 10, with charcoal, phenolic peat and smoke, but also added notes of cocoa, marzipan and sweet barbecue sauce. A little vanilla and burnt sugar. Herbs and liquorice. Nice balance of sweet and savoury notes. Definitely less lemon notes, this one is darker and warmer. I like it. With some water, the toffee / vanilla combo stands out, and some coastal notes show up. Mouth: medium weight and medium peat, more gentle than I’ve come to expect from Ardbeg lately. Lots of pepper and ginger. Some cardamom. Charcoal and vanilla. Brine. Liquorice again. Evolves around spices, but it remains a little youngish maybe. Finish: dry, tarry with coffee and chocolate, but shorter than expected.

A nice Ardbeg: darker, warmer and slightly sweeter than Ardbeg 10, with a “modern” wood influence. Not quite what I hoped for based on cask #1189 and #1190 but then again these casks had a different treatment. I like the result, but the complexity seems a little under par compared to some classic expressions.

Priced € 63 in the Ardbeg shop but sold out now. The public release is planned for September.

Score: 88/100

Let’s find out by comparing my (open) 2006 bottle and the new 2010 version head-to-head. The 2006 version is a little darker than the 2011 version, but the difference is hard to notice.

Ardbeg 10yo ‘Ten’ (46%, OB 2011)

Nose: the 2011 batch is more similar to the 2006 batch than I thought it would be. There’s still the same mixture of big medicinal peat, maritime notes and lemon. The new release seems a bit smokier / ashier while the old one is more camphory and maybe a tad more rounded. The walnut aroma is bigger in the 2006 version as well. Overall only subtle differences. Mouth: quite sweet. Not as smoky as I expected from the nose. There’s salty liquorice and a little ginger. Very dry and earthy, hardly any fruity notes (a hint of apple maybe). Roasted coffee. Very similar to the 2006 version, though it does seem a tad rougher in comparison. Finish: this is where the new batch seems to fade a little sooner. In the old batch there were more burnt grassy notes and ashes, softened by some vanilla, and now it’s mainly the salty liquorice that stands out.

Ardbeg 10 is still a cornerstone of the Islay profile. It’s a fairly simple whisky with a big emphasis on powerful peat and tar. When tasting the 2011 version on its own, I was a bit underwhelmed, but after a direct comparison I was surprised to see it didn’t change too much over the years. The fact that I appreciate it less, is probably because my prefences have changed, instead of the whisky itself.

Overall a nice result if you know the 2006 version must have contained quite some older casks (from the previous distillery owners) and the new 2011 is completely new production. Around € 35 but if you look a bit further, there are
1 litre bottles to be found for approximately € 40.

Score: 85/100

Ardbeg 12 yo 1998 (55,4%,
Nectar of the Daily Drams 2011)

Nose: clean, peaty and medicinal. Sea air. Hints of green olives. Less grassy / earthy / peaty than a standard Ardbeg 10yo though, with added almonds and floral notes. Adding water highlights the fruity side, with pear drops and a hint of vanilla. Mouth: very deep peat smoke with a nice layer of sweet fruity notes. Very focused. Almonds, sweet lemon. Liquorice. Big marzipan notes. Smoked fish. Nicer, even sweeter and more aromatic when brought down to 46%. Finish: very long, sweet, smoky and peaty.

A nice variation on the traditional Ardbeg Ten. Slightly rounder, sweeter and slightly wider as well. Play around with water to bring out all of its layers. Around € 80 in Belgium and € 90 in Holland.

Score: 88/100

The one we’re tasting now is quite famous as well. It was distilled in November 1972 and bottled for Alambic Classique, a German spirits importer founded by Hermann Suppanz.

Ardbeg 28 yo 1972 (50,1%, Douglas Laing for Alambic Classique Germany 2000,
234 btl.)

Nose: wow. Let’s start by saying it’s quite organic and farmy, with notes of fern forest and wet leaves. Stables and sheep. Tobacco as well. Then some deep tarry notes and peat, nicely balanced. On a third layer, there’s something in between mint and dental filling material, if you know what I mean. Medicinal and mineral notes, maybe even some rubber or diesel. Leather. Algae. Quite dry, but wonderful. Mouth: quite dry again and rather salty. Liquorice and ashes. Lovely peat with camphor. Again some rubber. Cecina de León. Lots of algae. Not overly complex and missing punch in the middle, but still excellent. Finish: long, salty and dry.

Spitzenklasse, as they say in Germany. A true classic and as I said, it’s famous so the last bottle sold on Whiskyauction fetched € 740. Many thanks for the sample, Thomas!

Score: 94/100

The collection includes the expensive Ardbeg 1965 and the different editions of the Double Barrel case, but also less common releases like the clear glass Ardbeg 10yo bottled in the 1970’s (black label, white letters).

I recently designed a new website for his collection. Bottles are still being added as we speak, but please head over to www.ardbeg.eu already to get an idea.

Ardbeg 27 yo 1975 (50%, Douglas Laing OMC 2002, sherry cask, US market, 342 btl.)

Nose: soot and sherry in a great marriage as both are not trying to overpower. Some of the notes, in no particular order: camphor, chocolate, gentle peat, iodine, sea breeze, red berries, juniper, tar, dark leather, dried prunes… All of a sudden, it reminded me of the famous Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar praline invented by our Belgian shock-o-latier Dominique Persoone for Oud Sluis – it has the same chocolate smell combined with slightly sourish vinegar. Priceless. Mouth: big liquorice flavours now. Tar again, some tobacco as well. Nutmeg and pepper. Very intense. Earthy, ending on spices and pine needles. Finish: really long, rather oaky now. Pepper and liquorice.

An impressive Ardbeg, very intense. The tar is quite big but the chocolate sweetness from the sherry makes it special. Not unlike some heavily sherried Port Ellen actually (say PE1). Very hard to find now, and expect € 400 or more.

Score: 92/100

Ardbeg 1980 ‘Kildalton’ 
(57,6%, OB 2004, 1300 btl.)

Nose: fragrant / floral and nicely fruity (lemon, orange, apricot). Despite a hint of vanilla, it’s not a particularly warm fruitiness though. It’s rather prickly, with hints of nail polish remover. Slightly waxy as well (lemon scented candles). Citrus tea. A nutty marzipan aroma as well and some pine wood. I doubt it’s completely unpeated. Mouth: oily and sweet with dried / cooked fruits (pineapple, orange) and a little vanilla. Quite malty. Bread. Clear oak, again slightly tingling with some pepper and ginger. Liquorice. A tiny bit of peat? Finish: long and hot, fading on chocolate.

Nice enough, I like the fruity sweetness with the light hints of peat. But it’s not exceptionally elegant like I expected it to be. Shops that have this on offer, ask around € 600.

Score: 88/100

Alligator is the name of the deepest way of charring casks. It refers to the resulting scale-like pattern of burnt wood, similar to a croc’s skin. Almost all bourbon makers use this type of charring, but for Scotch distilleries it’s quite uncommon.

Ardbeg did some experiments with toasted new oak casks (mind you: toasted, not charred) and released two of them for Feis Ile 2009: Ardbeg 1998 cask 1189 and Ardbeg 1998 cask 1190. I liked those casks A LOT because they focused less on peat smoke and more on bourbon flavours (vanilla, cocoa, mint, tobacco).

In stores around September, with a limited Comittee Release on the 1st of June 2011.

Update: the 1998 were toasted casks instead of charred casks (not burnt, just browned). The end result of the Alligator may be different from those experimental casks, but I guess we can still expect a palette that’s based around bourbon flavours.

Update: tasting notes of the Ardbeg Alligator (Committee release)

This Ardbeg 1975 was bottled for the French market. Similar bottles exist: a 1975/1988 by Auxil as well as some releases with an almost identical Gordon & MacPhail label (a 1975/1997 for Meregalli for example). This makes sense as Jas. Gordon & Co. refers to James Gordon who founded G&M together with John Alexander MacPhail.

It’s really a previlege to taste Ardbeg 1975 bottled at such a young age.
A big thank you to Ardbeg collector Geert Bero who brought this bottle to the Lindores Whisky Festival.

Ardbeg 1975 (40%, Jas. Gordon & Co. 1989, imported by Auxil France, 75 cl)

Nose: very smooth profile. The typical Ardbeg notes are present (bandages, some tar, peat, camphor, oyster juice) but it’s incredibly delicate. It’s also quite fruity, with yellow apple and lemon. All of this is coated with marmalade and creamy toffee. A little wax. Marzipan. A hint of spearmint. Mouth: a bit soft but great aromas. Almost like a breakfast whisky, showing a lovely mixture of bergamot, lemon tea and honey. Oranges. Sweet almonds. The middle is a bit less impressive (slightly papery?), but it returns nicely to medicinal and smokey notes (more smoke than on the nose), lemon marmalade and mineral notes. Finish: smoked fruit and hints of parsley.

Classic stuff. Overall very good but the nose is the really fabulous element here!

Score: 91/100

Ardbeg 15 yo 1993 (58,9%, Duncan Taylor 2009, cask #1724, 292 btl.)

Nose: nice combo of heavy smoke notes and floral elements. Soot and coal with a few farmy notes (stronger when you add water). Heavy peat. Brunt heather. A few marine notes (brine, tarry rope). Rough like most official Ardbegs lately and a little mono-dimensional. Mouth: oily, very very peaty, dry and ashy. Sea brine and lemon. Rather grassy as well. An independent Supernova, so it seems. A little sweeter in the aftertaste, especially when you add water. Finish: long, peaty, fading on salty liquorice.

Intense Ardbeg. Recommended for those who liked the Supernova and are looking for a single cask variation on the theme. Don’t expect major complexity though. Around € 95 at the time. Now sold out.

Score: 85/100

Ardbeg Supernova
(60,1%, OB 2010)

Nose: it shares a lot of elements with the 2009 edition of course: oily peat, pepper, tobacco and a touch of citrus and apple. There are bigger notes of graphite and phenols / gouache paint in the 2009 edition. On the other hand Supernova 2010 seems to boast more sweet apple, grass and camomile (some call it soapy because of this, but I don’t really mind). I would say 2009 is rougher and 2010 is smoother and better balanced. Mouth: very earthy and grassy now, with wet hay. Slightly less peaty than the 2009, or so it seems. Very bitter coffee. Some salty notes. Big big liquorice. Lemon zest. A bit of menthol and anise towards the end. A bit sharp and bitter maybe. Finish: hot and quite sharp. Liquorice and dry pepper.

Ardbeg Supernova 2010 is very powerful. Deeper, stronger and earthier than last year? Well, not quite. On the nose, I was charmed by the balance of the new one, but on the palate the added harshness and bitterness push me towards the 2009 edition. In the end both are very similar, so there’s no reason to alter the score.

Score: 85/100

For what it’s worth, here’s a rough comparison. Mind that the differences are much more subtle than the plusses may indicate.

It’s a fairly standard 10 years old Ardbeg, but as usual Ardbeg could charge £ 220 and still sell out in five hours, simply because it’s a single cask. At least this time the earnings are donated to charity.

Ardbeg 10 yo 2000 “Lord Robertson” (53%, OB 2010, Committee release, cask #1217, 202 btl.)

Nose: the sweetness of white chocolate, vanilla and marzipan is very nice. It shows sweet peat, but it’s not very smoky. Some apples and cloves. Faint hints of antiseptics and wet wool. Toffee. Water brings out freshly laid tarmac and burnt tyres with a citrus overtone. Mouth: a nice pepper / peat / lime combo. Dark soot and tar but at the same time that sweet barley coating again. Chocolate and sugared almonds. I’m missing a bit of complexity in the middle: there’s black soot and white chocolate but not much in between, if you know what I mean. Finish: long and smoky with a hint of cocoa.

An interesting young Ardbeg with a fairly sweet profile. Nice enough as long as you don’t take into account the price.

Score: 86/100

Ardbeg ‘Lord of the Isles’ 25 yo 
(46%, OB 2007)

Nose: starts quite shy and mostly fruity. After being warmed up, it shows a remarkably gentle and elegant character. Very leathery, with mellow peat smoke, orange marmalade, yellow apples, marzipan, warm cake… Subtle hints of boat rope and tar. A light layer of earthy and farmy notes. Some tobacco. Overall very complex, very integrated and a masterpiece of balance. Jim Murray says there’s a light soapiness on the nose – I don’t agree, although there’s a noticeable floweriness. Mouth: still quite some fruits, a tad more tropical and sweeter than on the nose (lime). More peat and smoke now. Leather and tobacco again. Walnuts. Some spices (pink pepper). Lightly salted. Finish: long, drier, smoky and slightly medicinal. Hints of chalk.

An Ardbeg in the old style, a lot more refined than the modern stuff. Respect. It could have been truly heavenly at cask strength though. Still available in a few stores for around € 300.

Score: 92/100

Ardbeg Rollercoaster 
(57,3%, OB 2009, Committee release)

Nose: briney and coastal, with notes of smoked sardines with a few drops of lemon. It’s easy to detect the youthful power and the sweet notes that go with it (pear, artificial hints of banana) but there’s enough older stuff in there to get the balance right. A lot of iodine. A few musty elements. Nutmeg and cumin. Mint. Quite industrial in a way. Water brings out vanilla and fragrant notes. Mouth: not the most impressive mouth-feel given its strength, but the big wave of peat smoke is certainly present. The first things I get are signs of its youth which are then overtaken by liquorice, lemon and coal. Gets curiously vegetal and herbal after a while (aniseed, eucalyptus, coriander leaves?). Some very dark chocolate. Water makes it slightly grassier and more rubbery.  Finish: long on chilli peppers and briney smoke. Slightly bitter cloves.

I’m not sure what to think. On the one hand, I’m impressed because the effect of its immature age is well hidden. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem unique at all and it’s probably a bit over-hyped. But hey, Ardbeg fans will love this anyway. Around € 55
(a high price for a 3 year-old, but enough bang for your buck).

Score: 85/100

I poured a glass of Ardbeg Supernova and quickly tasted them side-by-side. Supernova shows more peat but more vanilla and camomile at the same time. Still it seems the Rollercoaster is more expressive with its added layer of sweetness, hints of musty earth and more balanced peat. For me, the Rollercoaster has the edge.

What surprises me is that they are so similar despite the different composition. If you could add just one or two casks of 3yo spirit to the Supernova, I’m sure it wouldn’t be far away from the Rollercoaster. The current Ardbeg range is quite narrow if you think about it. How long before they release wine finishes…?

Anyway this document listed a number of brand registrations owned by Moet Hennessy USA… Corryvreckan is there, Supernova is there,  and Ardbeg Rollercoaster was registered just two months ago.

In the meantime, we already have some details. It’s made from one cask of each year between 1997 and 2006 and it will be launched on February 15 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the committee. Price: around € 60.

Update/ Here it is

Ardbeg 31yo 1975
(53,7%, OB 2006, cask #1378, 453 btl)

Nose: great ‘old style’ Ardbeg with much less peat than we’re used to today. Big notes of camphor. A certain mellow sweetness from the sherry butt, with hints of cocoa and wonderful fruits (mainly berries and papaya). Some cinnamon and ashes. Slightly coastal as well, with hints of boat rope and wet sand. Great integration overall and very complex. Mouth: sweet start, perfect strength. Very chocolaty. More peat now than on the nose. Quite some oak too. Hints of salted nuts and raisins. Elegant and balanced. Getting drier and quite tannic towards the end. Finish: dry and very long, smokey, nutty and oaky. Waves of sherry and cocoa in the background.

If you want to try this one, you’ll have to pay over € 600. Too much for my wallet, but surely an Ardbeg masterpiece, complex with superb balance.

Score: 92/100

Ardbeg Airigh Nam Beist
Much more candied and floral than the Corryvreckan. You can hardly pick up the peat at first, such a difference! Bigger fruitiness, more vanilla (lovely white chocolate), less burnt notes. Less grassy notes as well. If you go back to the Corryvreckan after this, it seems like a Supernova. I have to say I appreciate the Airigh Nam Beist more after this comparison.

Ardbeg Supernova
This one is definitely stronger, peatier, ashier. More tar, espresso and more camomile. There are also (pleasant) notes of rubber and pencil shavings that I didn’t get in the Corryvreckan. Overall more mono-dimensional though.

Basically the new Corryvreckan (30% fruit / 70% peat, I would say), sits in the middle between the feminine, candied Airigh Nam Beist (70% fruit / 30% peat) and the monstruous Supernova (5% fruit / 95% peat). It seems the overall Ardbeg profile is moving towards less complexity, with a darker taste and heavier peat (except for Blasda, that is). I’m pretty sure Corryvreckan will be a hit, although the price is considerably higher than previous standard Ardbegs.

After this comparison, I decided to give the Airigh Nam Beist one extra point and the Supernova one less.

Ardbeg Corryvreckan (named after a dangerous whirlpool in the seas near Islay) is composed around batches of spirit matured in first-fill French oak casks. They should give this whisky enough sweetness and spiciness to compete with the peat.

Ardbeg Corryvreckan (57,1%, OB 2009)

Nose: sweet peat smoke mixed with lemons, fresh kumquats but also slightly overdue oranges. Walnuts and wet wool. A few grassy notes and hints of heavily toasted bread. Roasted nuts and a few spicy notes emerge after a while (pepper and ginger). I even picked up hints of violet candy which is quite remarkable. They were gone quickly, but it proves the Corryvreckan is indeed a real whirlpool of flavours. Mouth: very strong impact, starting rather sweet but evolving towards a spicy / savoury profile. Peppery with generous coal smoke. Lemon again, liquorice, phenols, very Ardbeggy. Toast with peach jam. Some cocoa. Finish: very long, continuously switching between peat, salt, mocha and pepper. Hints of olive juice.

Intense and powerful, no doubt about that, but balanced as well. Less peaty than Ardbeg Supernova but punchier / rougher than the Renaissance. Probably my favourite expression in the current Ardbeg range. Around € 70. Oh, and I really like the “no swimming” joke on the box!

Score: 88/100