Tag: Ardbeg

Ardbeg Kelpie

ardbeg-kelpie-whisky

A whisky of great depth with a lovely bitterness of cocoa and coffee combined with classic Ardbeg oily peatiness & marine influences of its namesake. If I can raise any criticism it is only that the nose promises more than the palate maybe deliver in this expression. 87/100

Ardbeg Kelpie Committee Edition

ardbeg-kelpie-committee-release

Reasonable more enjoyable than the Limited Release at 46% ABV, this doesn’t require any water and is perfectly drinkable neat. A greater intensity to the chocolate and surprisingly more obvious fruity element, the other flavours are variants on a theme but are just packaged together better here. 89/100

Ardbeg 21 Years Old 1992 Single Cask 430

ardbeg-21-year-old-1992-whiskybroker-2

Ardbeg’s peaty beast of a spirit has been truly tamed in this single cask expression. The Hogshead has worked masses of sweet and creamy vanilla into this whisky, however a slightly metallic tang remains that could have arisen in the original distillate? The result is hugely drinkable even though the peat influence is still prominent, it is smooth and approachable and I could easily drink a lot more of this if I had too (or if I had it!) 88/100

SMWS 33.132 Beauty and the Beast

rdbeg-2007-8-year-old-smws-33.132-beauty-and-the-beast

Wow! What a wonderful expression this has really taken on some cask influence in its short 8 year maturation. This adds a wonderful fruity sweetness to that smoked meat quality from the Ardbeg spirit. Like a single cask version of the Uigeadail expression (see our reviews of the 2012 and 2014 bottled expressions here). A little rough around the edges but this just feels like cigar smoke in the mouth. 90/100

Ardbeg 33 Years Old 1975 Single Cask 1376

Ardbeg 1975

Another beautiful single cask example from Ardbeg, full of fruity, tannic and leather qualities from a long ex-sherry butt maturation. This expression really highlighted just how superior the preceeding 1974 Bourbon cask matured expression was. Although in essence this Ardbeg would normally fit my flavour profile, I found it perhaps overly dark fruity with little chocolate or nut influences (so I suspected ex-Oloroso) cask and almost a little too much ageing, even so this scored extremely highly as it really was a supreme whisky. If I had the choice (and money!) I think I would have bought 2 of the 1974 cask bottles instead though! 93/100