A small gang of Ardbegs, part 2


May 24, 2024

A small gang of Ardbeg, part 2

We continue, simply put... And we'll try to speed things up a bit compared to yesterday; one could write novels about certain Ardbegs. But that would be deadly...

One of the last casks filled by Allied/Laphroaig before
closure of the distillery and the sale of Ardbeg to
Glenmorangie the following year (WF Archive)

Islay Single Malt 14 yo 2009/2023 'Southern A' (50.2%, Maltbarn, 'Circles', bourbon cask)

An 'A' in the south, what could that be? Ardenistiel? Islay's Ardmore? Wasn't there once an Ardtalla Distillery? Not too sure about the latter. Colour: white wine. Nose: we're close to the best batches of Ardbeg 'Ten', with a magnificent and quite sharp purity, on petrol, then rather massive doses of verbena liqueur, a bit of rubber and tar, hessian, polystyrene glue... In short, all those things we love. With water: crushed herbs, especially parsley. Then a new inner tube. Classic. Mouth (neat): a bit sweet at first (absinthe with its sugar), then more on citrus and pepper. And again, that smoky limoncello note. With water: all things coastal, salty and lemony come to the fore. Finish: long, tense, almost 'pointed'. Peppery lemon in the aftertaste. Comments: what a gentle beast! Of course, we love it…
SGP:667 - 90 points.

It's a real shame that one can only discover Ardbeg once in a lifetime. (Pointless comment, typical of this miserable website – Ed).

Kildalton 14 yo 2009/2023 (52.1%, DramCatcher, hogshead, cask #1102)

Colour: vin blanc. Colour: white wine. Nose: this is quite a gentle Ardbeg, even if the profile is similar to the previous one. Grapefruit syrup, ashes on the beach, followed by a more medicinal side. Old cough syrup, camphor balm, lemongrass... Then oysters. It's quite magnificent on the nose. With water: we find model glue and boat deck oil (teak oil). Mouth (neat): pure recent Ardbeg, lemon, smoke, ashes. Again, very much in the style of the best official 'Ten', not necessarily the first 'Introducing Ten Years Old', if that rings a bell. With water: isn't this an unadulterated official? Pepper, ashes, zest, brine. Finish: long and even more peppery. Comments: I adore it. Dior J'adore, Ardbeg I dig (that's pathetic, S.).
SGP:567 - 90 points.

These 2009s seem really top-notch, but let's be sure…

Kildalton 13 yo 2009/2023 (59.1%, SCSM, China, hogshead, cask #2116, 445 bottles)

From the Chinese 'Single Cask Single Malt' crew. Colour: straw. Nose: an Ardbeg identical in every respect to the previous one. No complaints at all. Now, I'm not saying it's exactly the same whisky, of course, but in a double-blind tasting, they would be indistinguishable. Mouth: same comments apply, even the extra watts don't change much. It's excellent, with notes of lemon, ash, and smoke. With water, just to see how similar indeed it is to the previous one: well, it is. Perhaps it's just a tad more medicinal with a few additional touches of glue. Or not. Finish: the same, identical, thus excellent. Comments: I feel I should apologise to the excellent members of SCSM. Will they ever forgive me?
SGP:567 - 90 points.

Secret Islay 6 yo 2017/2023 (61.4%, Swell de Spirits, #2 Pop Intercaves, blended malt, France)

The thing is, even if the origins were truly secret, it's often quite clear which cask batches are hitting the market, and it only takes one to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, for the origin of the whole lot to be revealed. Additionally, the term 'blended malt' is becoming increasingly controversial, as we've discussed before. Except for genuine blended malts, of course. Colour: white wine. Nose: it has the feeling of new make, but that's far from unpleasant. It's almost like it's been aged in concrete eggs, ha. Very pretty Williams pear eau-de-vie, smoked fish, fireplace ash, extinguished pipe, burnt pine wood... With water: the traditional chalk and virgin wool soaked in rainwater. And fresh bread. Mouth (neat): absolutely excellent. Peat, white agricole rum, mezcal, lemon juice, a touch of quinine... It's almost like an Islay white spirit. So, not really immature young Ardbeg, rather a young Ardbeg that was selected and grown so that it could be enjoyed at a very young age. It's quite superb. With water: still that smoked pear with peat. It would be amusing if fruit distillers started peating their products, there might be a market for that! You say it already exists??? Finish: this is where it falters a bit, as is almost always the case with very, very young whiskies. Essentially, it lacks a bit of polish, but that's to be expected. A full ashtray in the aftertaste. Comments: very spectacular, very good. I didn't have enough of it, but otherwise, I would have tried this baby in a mizuwari. Because we're not afraid of anything at Château
WF. SGP:657 - 88 points.

Right, enough with the young gangsters, let's try one or two old glories, just to put everything into perspective and 'recalibrate our benchmarks', as one might say if we wanted to appear serious...

Ardbeg 19 yo 1975/1995 (47.3%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection)

We've never tried this one, but last year we sampled another from this series, a 75/95 at 51.8%, which was rather intergalactic (WF 94). Colour: pale gold. Nose: a different world. Cadenhead, in those blessed times, were offering undiluted malts in this series, meaning these 47.3% were, in theory at least, natural. Old turpentine and ancient paint pots, those famous tarry ropes, pine sawdust, notes of black garlic, new leather and old leather (not the same thing at all!), then citrus liqueurs, bone broth, old amontillado (whether there's a sherry influence or not)... What a nose! Mouth: here we rediscover the complexity of old malts whose strength has naturally declined. This one has lots of plasticine, beef fat, candied lemon, cooked whelks, camphor, old chartreuse, tar liqueur... This might not sound very coherent, but rest assured, it is in the glass. Finish: only medium in length, but it's the complexity that wins the day. If I dared, I'd mention mint sauce – English recipe, of course. And again, beef marrow and... black garlic! Lots of pine in the aftertaste. Comments: it might not have the punch of last year's bottling (I mean the '75 I tried last year), but what a beauty, even if it's a beauty that's a tiny bit 'worn' here and there. Well, you know what I mean.
SGP:476 - 92 points.

Ring ring, the last one for today, please…

Ardbeg 28 yo 1972/2000 (49.5%, Douglas Laing, Old Malt Cask, 492 bottles)

Another seminal series and a bottle that doesn't even tell you what type of cask it came from. In those blessed times, the cask type was usually only mentioned if it was sherry, and even then, only if it was heavily sherried. Essentially, no one cared much about the cask type, and that was perfectly fine—they were distillers or maturers, not cabinetmakers or winemakers. Okay, I'll stop now... Colour: gold. Nose: the purity of those years! It is, or rather was, much more medicinal than modern Ardbegs, though not in the Laphroaig sense. Essentially, it's more tarry ointments rather than mercurochrome and bandages. The rest unfolds with new tyres à la Port Ellen, shellfish à la Caol Ila, engine oil and rubber à la Lagavulin, and smoked oysters à la Bowmore. Sorry, but no exotic fruits of any kind. Mouth: entirely on tar, bitter almonds, and a bit of burnt rubber. I had forgotten just how brutal and massive these Ardbegs could be, even at a relatively modest strength like this. Harsh ash, salted lemon liqueur, tars, forgotten balms (can't remember which ones), olive oil... In fact, these Ardbegs were really more about the whole experience rather than a sequence of aromas and flavours. In short, they were Ardbegs. Finish: sublimely Ardbeg. An incredible balance of pine resin, rubber, salt, smoke, lemon, and lapsang souchong. A tiny hint of passion fruit right at the end. Comments: there used to be some very fine people who were not liking this style at all, and frankly, we were understanding them. It's massive! But we still absolutely love it...
SGP:468 - 94 points.

In life, we always have the urge to criticise what we once loved, and this might be the case with distilleries like Macallan or Ardbeg, but when you have the right expressions in the glass, you have to be honest and admit that these are or were indeed damn good whiskies!

(Thank you KC, Edward and other crazy friends)

Check the index of all Ardbeg we've tasted so far