48,3°
Distillery : Ardbeg - Islay
Bourbon Casks
Original Bottling
Limited Edition
Single Malt
Bottled in 2025
Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured
Peated around 54 ppm
To celebrate the Ardbeg Committee's 25th anniversary, a new limited edition was needed. This one stood out as the perfect bottling to represent everything the Ardbeg Committee has been doing for 25 years: no age statement, no mention of the casks used (I finally found a website where they talked about Bourbon casks, but it took a while), and no information on the number of bottles released either. But it has a quirky concept: the product was made from high gravity mash. In fact, it's just that less water and more malt than usual were used to produce the wort, which was therefore denser. The advantage is that a denser wort should produce more flavour, but you still need good quality casks and a fairly long ageing period to turn it all into a good whisky.
Let's Taste It :
Suffocating peat, fairly intense herbaceous notes, angelica, liquorice stick, bay leaves. Lemon peel mixed with a good dose of iodine, sea spray, seaweed and kelp. Peppery, earthy and woody notes, seductive smoke. On the palate, it's not exceptional, but there is vigour, green apple, Italia grapes, aniseed, a pinch of pepper and, of course, a good dose of peat. Cumin and cloves, fresh walnuts. The finish is robust but not particularly long, with lots of vegetal notes, reeds, grass, water lilies, damp earth full of limestone, sunflower oil and macerated almonds.
In Short,
It's always the same old story with Ardbeg: the nose is good, without being exceptional, the finish is powerful, but on the palate, it's too young and therefore watery. These little experiments are cute, but they end up getting tiresome. It's been a long time since I've had a limited edition that was better than, or even as good as, the Ten. What's more, the price is too high, it feels like a rip-off.
Score : 87
To Be Listened While Sipping :
Dead Cat - Post Scriptum
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