Ardbeg Distillery...

Ardbeg 10 Year Old

Bottled by

Distiller

ABV

46%

Size

70cl

Price

£23.50

Region

Islay

Bin No

MOET-250

Ardbeg Ten Years Old is a very special bottling for the Ardbeg distillery as it is the first non-chill filtered whisky in the Ardbeg range. Chill filtering isn`t a bad thing, in fact it created real consistency of product when the whisky industry was a little more `hap-hazard` than it is today. Ardbeg Ten Years Old is whisky with none of the goodness taken out and as good as straight from the cask.

Nose: Exceptional balance and depth. At full strength the aroma is a beguiling mix of toffee and chocolate sweetness, cinnamon spice and medicinal phenols. Fresh citrus and floral notes of white wine are evident as are melon, pear drops, general creaminess, fresh phenolic aroma of sea spray (iodine) and smoked fish. Hickory and coffee emerge later as the most volatile notes fade.

Taste: An initial moderate and clean sweetness is rapidly followed by a mouthful of deep peat notes, with tobacco smoke and strong espresso coffee, which then gives way to treacle sweetness and liquorice. The mouth feel is firstly lightly spiced (astringent) then chewing, mouthwatering, full and finally dry.

Finish: Long and smoky. A smoky sweetness is left on the palate, with a crushed peat and sweet malted cereal character.

97 Points: Jim Murray's Whisky Bible

Uigeadail

Bottled by

Distiller

ABV

54.2%

Size

70cl

Price

£36.75

Region

Islay

Bin No

MOET-252

Ardbeg Uigeadail (pronounced Oog-a-dal), takes its name from the brooding, mysterious loch which provides the peat-laden water for Ardbeg. This is a special vatting of different styles of Ardbeg, marrying together its traditional deep, smoky notes with the luscious, sweet, raisiny tones of old ex-sherry casks.

Ardbeg Uigeadail is non chill-filtered at traditional strength which retains maximum flavour and gives more body and added depth. On adding water a little cloudiness may occur which is perfectly natural.

Nose: The undiluted nose is deep and rounded – chocolate caramels and barley sugar combine with dates, raisins and smooth sherry notes. Later, you find leather and linseed oil. With water, the sweetness gives way to malted honeycomb, with flowering currants emerging through the smoky sweetness of a well-fired fruit pudding.

Taste: Sweet, chewy and oily with a silky mouth feel. The flavour is initially sweet, revealing fruit cake and treacle. This is followed by smoked, barbecued or honey-roast food with the slightest hint of olives.

Finish: Again long, both sweet and dry with honey, treacle and a trace of lint.

89 Points: Jim Murray's Whisky Bible

Airigh Nam Beist

Bottled by

Distiller

ABV

54.2%

Size

70cl

Price

£41.85

Region

Islay

Bin No

MOET-253

There is a dark place on Islay, high above the Ardbeg Distillery, called Airigh Nam Beist (pronounced `arry-nam-bayst`) which in Gaelic means "shelter of the beast". No more fitting name could have been bestowed on such an eerie place; this is where - legend has it - something otherworldly lurks, lying in wait.

So what measures can be taken to protect local and visitor alike? If you find yourself straying this way, then pray equip yourself with that traditionally reliable antidote to sheer terror - the stiff drink. A travelling man could ask for no better protection than a hip flask full of the strong stuff, namely Ardbeg`s Airigh Nam Beist. For it`s truly a wee beastie of a dram - waiting to be released!

Nose: The initial aroma is of vanilla ice cream and sea spray with hints of peat smoke and fudge sauce followed by fennel, pine nuts, zesty limes, geranium and lavender. With water, ripe summer fruits are released which mingle with the sweetness to give hints of rum and raisin chocolate, enveloped by soft heather and peat smoke.

Taste: Definitely Ardbeg on the taster with peat oil and seaweed bonfire smokiness. Crisp smoky bacon, maple syrup and antiseptic lozenges leave a peppery and oily feel on the palate. Sweet and fruity flavours of ripe autumn fruits and chocolate limes emerge as notes of black coffee, liquorice and reminders of Parma violets linger in the background.

Finish: Long on the finish with crushed dried peat and creamy notes.

95 Points: Jim Murray's Whisky Bible

Renaissance

Bottled by

Distiller

ABV

55.9%

Size

70cl

Price

£41.50

Region

Islay

Bin No

MOET-257

They say Rome wasn’t built in a day, and if the production of the world’s best whisky (i.e. Ardbeg) is anything to go by, we are inclined to believe the rumours. Over the last four years they have been patiently treading the path to peaty maturity where they have, at last, arrived. Their young Ardbeg has come of age and they have named it Ardbeg Renaissance.

This is an historic moment indeed, as it marks the point from which all Ardbeg 10 Years Old will be bottled using only distillate produced since their Renaissance in 1997. Therefore, this Ardbeg, the eldest in the family, is released in tribute to all Committee Members who have shown their unwavering support for Ardbeg over the last decade, and we humbly suggest that celebrating with a dram of Ardbeg Renaissance (55.9% ABV) would not be considered inappropriate.

In a manner certain to tingle Committee tastebuds, Chief Noser Rachel Barrie describes Renaissance as a “crackle of peat setting off a chain reaction of flavour explosions… the taste goes on and on leaving a smoky jet stream of simmering peat oils, wispy vanilla cream and chewy liquorice whirls.”