Ardbeg Perpetuum Committee Edition

• Category: Islay single malt scotch whisky
• Origin: Ardbeg Distillery
• Bottling: Luis Vuitton Moet Hennessy
• ABV: 49.2%
• Cost:£70 from Ardbeg

What they say:

Colour:

Deep Amber

Nose:

Tar, soot and pine resin leads to dark chocolate, treacle toffee, and a distant, nutty/oaky note. Water initiates fresh, briny sea-spray, linseed oil, and a pine resin/lime top note. Remarkably fresh for such a peaty whisky.

Taste:

Intense, robust peat smoke, savoury smoky bacon, cinnamon and nutmeg, but also an incredible creamy, sweet vanilla/milk chocolate note.

Finish:

The never-ending aftertaste sees more linseed oil (a hint of the Sherry Casks), creosote and tar, but understated, always gentle.

What I say:

Released in 2015 to celebrate Ardbeg’s Bicentennary and available during the Fèis Ìle 2015 Islay festival of malt and music. Perpetuum was available as a Distillery only edition at 49.2% ABV (reviewed here) or as a general release at 47.4%. Celebrating 200 years since the founding of Ardbeg distillery by John McDougall in 1815.

Colour:

Bright champagne gold (4/20), numerous medium-sized tears leave long, fine legs

Nose:

Fruity, jelly babies and jelly beans, fruit cocktail, cold peat ash, vanilla, peach, mango, banana & banana bread, poached pears, honey, chalky, shellfish

Taste:

Chocolate and mint, toffee, butterscotch, prickly like chilli powder and popping candy, rich earthen and smoky peat, metallic copper and iron, mellows into tannic well stewed tea with eucalyptus and clove oil, medicinal iodine.

Finish:

Long, drying, tannic oak and pepper, dark chocolate and peat ash

Overall:

Lovely nose on this expression, with a nice stewed fruit compote element. Powerful palate, always a delight from such pale whisky. Accomplished and well constructed classic Ardbeg with a gentle twist.

Score: 90/100

Don’t take my word for it:

TOModera’s Whisky Reviews Ardbeg Perpetuum

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