Monday 10 January 2022.
A bit of history (those who are familiar with it can skip this part)
Like many of its sister distilleries, Ardbeg was born illegally towards the end of the 18th century. It was in 1794 that a distillery was first spotted in the village, but it was in 1815 that it was officially born, and it was then that John McDougall obtained an official licence to run it. When John sold his baby in 1838 to Thomas Buchanan, a Glasgow spirits merchant, his son Alexander McDougall was appointed Distillery Manager until his death in 1853. Then his two daughters Margaret and Flora took over, with the help of a young Colin Hay. They thus became probably the first female Distillery Managers in the history of Whisky.
But Flora and then Margaret joined their father, and by 1865 Colin Hay was the only manager in the place. Business was booming at the time. The whisky was already heavily peated because the ovens were not fitted with aeration hoods, and was selling very well to blenders. Colin Hay took the opportunity to build new warehouses and install new stills. The distillery employed 60 people in 1887, producing over a million litres a year.
But the good times were short-lived. At the very end of 1887, a major fire destroyed almost the entire site. It would take years to rebuild everything. Colin Hay retired in 1897, leaving the reins to his son, who registered the Ardbeg name and logo.
In 1922, the McDougall family bought the distillery and took back control, but it fell into the Prohibition period, followed by the Depression of 1929, and had to close from 1932 to 1935. The distillery remained in family ownership until 1959, when Ardbeg Distillery Ltd was founded. The main shareholder was Distillers Company Limited. By this time, production was high, and in 1974 the shareholders decided to abandon on-site malting and source their supplies from Port Ellen. It was the end of an era.
The disaster began in 1977, when the Canadian company Hiram Walker & Sons became the majority shareholder. From then on, bad decisions were made. Demand for peated malt fell, and in 1979 they began to produce unpeated malt (heresy!). The kilns were even shut down in 1980, with not a single ounce of peat left in the distillery! Having lost its soul, the distillery had no choice but to die, and closed a few months later, in March 1981.
Nevertheless, Allied Distillers bought the site and resumed a minimalist production in 1989, two months a year, for the rare enthusiasts. This respite was short-lived, as Ardbeg closed down completely in 1991, and Allied Distillers, which preferred to concentrate on its other distillery, Laphroaig, even removed most of the equipment before selling.
So everyone thought Ardbeg was dead for good. But the new owners, Glenmorangie Inc, took over production in 1997. At first, they could only sell off old stocks, but they opened the Visitor's Centre in 1998, set up the Ardbeg Committee in 2000, released the Ten the same year and the Uigeadail in 2003, and it's been a real fairytale ever since.
In 2004, a holding company comprising LVMH and a French subsidiary of Diageo bought Glenmorangie, and thus Ardbeg. With such a massive group, it became a luxury product. Soon there was a succession of very old, overpriced bottlings, while every year there were more and more limited edition Committee Releases to stimulate demand. The public followed and today we have one of the most renowned houses on Islay. Production is doubling in 2019 with the addition of two stills, and Distillery Manager Colin Gordon, assisted by Master Distiller Bill Lumsden, produce a huge number of new releases every year, to achieve a success that is beyond them.
The Line Up Project
Every year they bring out more or less experimental limited editions devoted to the Ardbeg Committee, or to celebrate the Feis Ile. There are more and more of them, with five last year (Arrrrrrrdbeg!, 25 yo, 8 yo For Discussion, Scorch and Traigh Bhan Batch 3). And the success continues. Despite the relentless criticism, buyers are flocking in. Ardbeg has undoubtedly become Scotland's most divisive distillery. Still very peaty, and now haloed by the bling-bling of LVMH, its juice raises questions. You either hate it or love it. Personally, I'm a huge fan, and from the start of my journey through whisky country, I've tried to collect as many of these limited editions as possible. After several years of searching, I'm now in a position to form my own opinion.
I have only selected nine bottlings. I have to consider that my liver has limited capacity. I put aside the
Traigh Bhan and the 25 yo, which disappointed me from what I tasted. I've also left out the 8yo For Discussion, which was designed to integrate the Core Range. And, of course, the old bottlings, such as the Alligator, the
Galileo and the Rollercoaster, but if you've got a plan, I'm in! Also missing is the
Grooves Committee Release, which I didn't think was great, and the
Supernova, which are particularly peaty and should be tasted separately.
The idea is to understand the project behind all these experiments. Is there more to it than the marketing plan? Is it really worth it for an enthusiast? Has anything changed in all the years they've been doing this? Of course, it's always going to be too expensive for what it is, but is it still good enough not to have too much regret?
One of the warehouses
The Tasting
Ardbeg Drum :
Very sweet nose, with hints of genoise and icing sugar. But this is quickly counterbalanced by coarse peat and herbal notes. Then the Bourbon takes over, with beautiful vanilla. A light palate entry, followed again by herbs and spices. After a while, it strikes a fine balance, with hints of wood and peat. The finish is quite long, but not revolutionary. Score: 87 Ardbeg Kelpie :
Very vanilla-flavoured nose, fairly soft and smooth. A little iodine. Then thick peat rises, the whole is very woody, with good fullness. Icing sugar. Herbaceous notes. Quite fresh on the palate, with iodine again. Then some spices. A touch of menthol. Rose water. Explosive, long, coal-coloured finish. Score: 88 Ardbeg Scorch :It's already fruity. Quince, peach, honey. Banana. Then it becomes iodised, mineral, rocky. With a sweet smoke, like cotton candy. After that, the palate is a little light but good, very smoky, you can feel the influence of the toasted casks. A little pomegranate, a big pile of peat, earth. Light spices. Very nice, long, vegetal, fresh finish, ending on cola. Score: 89 Ardbeg Perpetuum :Very smooth, fresh, iodised nose. Sea breeze, as you contemplate the horizon. A touch of salt. Some fruits, gooseberry, Chasselas grape. Vaporous smoke. Vanilla. Pleasant palate, again rather smooth and salty. A few spices. Long, herbaceous, chalky and earthy finish. Score: 88 Ardbeg Auriverdes :Here again, iodine plays its part, giving an ethereal, airy, minty nose of cane sugar and mangroves. With relatively light smoky peat. And some exotic fruits, lychee, kumquat, prickly pear. Swampy on the palate, with good vegetable peat, flaky, spicy. Ginger. Long, muddy finish, charcoal, earth, oil. Score: 89 Ardbeg Blaaack Committee Release :The nose is syrupy, with cherry, morello cherry, amarena, then all the Ardbeg stuff, smoke, a peat barrel, vegetal touches, iodine, lovely fullness. Very coal-like too. Very tasty. Leather, wine lees. Very fruity on the palate too, with spices and a hint of grass. Nice, long, coaly finish, heather earth, wine lees, muscat grapes. Score: 88 Ardbeg Arrrrrrrdbeg! Committee Release :For once, a rather country peat, with hints of hay and straw. At the same time, it remains bourbony, vanilla-flavoured and airy. On the palate, the peat is light, with a few spices, still very pastoral, earthy, cereal-like. Wheat, nuts. Nice explosive, sparkling finish. Score: 88 Ardbeg Ardbog :The peat fades, giving way to a satiny nose of heather, rich in fruits. The iodine gives a lovely breadth. A drop of melted dark chocolate. On the palate, fruit and vanilla mingle with spices. Beautiful depth. Very long finish, digging like a trench in dark, damp earth. Score : 90 Ardbeg Dark Cove Committee Release :Right from the start, superb fullness and very fine balance. It's as if the Bourbon, iodine and Sherry complement each other to form a perfect whole. It's greedy too, with a pinch of icing sugar. Lemon pulp. Very sweet and fruity on the palate. A pinch of salt, a little peat. Spices. The finish is like taking off in a supersonic jet, with charcoal, wood, fizz, cola, very long. Toffee. Score: 91
What I gain from it
- Firstly, it seemed to me that over the years Whisky is getting younger in general, with the notable exception of the 13 year old Arrrrrrrdbeg. Bottlings from 2018 onwards are certainly 8 years old at most, while earlier ones may be over 10 years comfortably.
- In the end, there aren't hundreds of options, and experimentation is limited. I can see several trends:
- Very charred casks, with the Scorch, the Grooves and the Alligator.
- Casks dominated by Sherry or wine, with Ardbog, Blaaack and Galileo.
- Bourbon-dominated casks, with Auriverdes, Perpetuum and Rollercoaster
- Virgin casks with Kelpie...
- The most balanced blends possible between Sherry and Bourbon, with Dark Cove.
- The rather odd and not always successful experiments with Drum and Arrrrrrrdbeg!
- What's more, these expressions, tasted all in a row, allow me to discover more discreet hallmarks. Behind the very smoky peat, with its chimney soot profile and full ashtray, there's a very smooth, ethereal side, a sea breeze combined with a little vanilla and sweet citrus fruits that are not at all acidic. It's a very smooth distillate, in fact, very ethereal, behind the rough facade of peat.
Conclusion
For tonight's tasting, here's my order of preference: Dark Cove CR, Ardbog, Scorch, Auriverdes, Blaaack, Kelpie, Arrrrrrrdbeg!, Perpetuum and Drum.
The first three are worth trying if you're even the slightest bit of a fan of the distillery, and the next three are really nice, but no better than Corryvreckan. The last three are interesting, but hardly better than the Ten.
Of course, none of these bottlings is worth paying several hundred euros for. At that price, you can easily find something better. Nevertheless, before making fun of fans who are breaking the bank, I think you should try it. You might be surprised.
For my part, Ardbeg was once my favourite distillery. Today it's a bit of a disappointment, partly because of its over-sold experiments, but it's still in my top 5.
